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QUESTION: In women during labour, does epidural analgesia lead to long term backache more than non-epidural analgesia?
Design
Randomised (allocation concealed*), unblinded,* controlled trial with 12 months follow up.
Setting
Maternity unit of a district general hospital in Staffordshire, UK.
Patients
369 women (mean age 24 y) at first pregnancy who were in spontaneous, full term labour, had a normal obstetric and medical history, had no contraindication to either form of analgesia, were willing to participate, and had continued eligibility at time of labour. Follow up was 85% at 3 months and 88% at 12 months.
Intervention
Women were allocated to epidural analgesia (n=184) or non-epidural analgesia (n=185). Epidural analgesia consisted of 0.25% bupivacaine (10 ml) with top ups of 5 to …