Sleep and comfort after Caesarean section

Abstract

To compare postoperative well-being after general and epidural anaesthesia, 58 women undergoing Caesarean section were divided into a general anaesthetic group receiving intramuscular opioid postoperatively (26), and an epidural group receiving morphine via the epidural route (32). The epidural group required less analgesia (p less than 0.01 at 0.5 and 8 hours, p less than 0.001 at 4 hours). There was no difference in the use of oral analgesics. At 1, 4 and 24 hours after delivery more patients in the general anaesthesia group described themselves as very comfortable (p less than 0.05). More in the epidural group had a very good night's sleep during each night studied. Patients in the epidural group were slower to use the ward toilet (p less than 0.01) and had more itching (p less than 0.001). Our conclusion is that patients progressed well in both groups.