Analgesia
Analgesia is used to relieve pain during labour. Data are therefore limited to mothers who had labour, whether spontaneous or induced (note that some mothers who labour may go on to have a caesarean section and also receive anaesthesia). More than one type of analgesic can be administered.
For more information on analgesia, see Analgesia in Australia's mothers and babies.
During the pandemic, concerns were raised over which types of analgesia were safe to use for pregnant women who have a COVID-19 infection (D’Souza et al. 2020), which may have influenced the type of analgesia which was administered.
In Australia, nitrous oxide was suspended in many birthing units to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission through aerosol generation (Froessler et al. 2022). Research shows that epidural rates did not change during this time, but opioid analgesia use increased (Froessler et al. 2022).
Figure 20 presents data on analgesia type.
Figure 20: Proportion of women who laboured and gave birth, by analgesia type and state and territory of birth, 2015 to 2021
Line graph shows type of analgesia administered by state and territory of birth between 2015 and 2021.
Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion of women who had nitrous oxide during labour decreased from 52.7% in 2015 to 51.7% in 2019 (excluding data from Victoria). Modelling showed that this was an annual decrease of 0.4 percentage points. The observed proportion of women who had nitrous oxide during labour was 50.6% in 2020 and 50.8% in 2021, which was similar to the predicted proportions based on the modelling (51.2% in 2020 and 50.8% in 2021).
Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion of women who had systemic opioids during labour decreased from 16.5% in 2015 to 12.7% in 2019 (excluding data from Victoria). Modelling showed that this was an annual decrease of 1.0 percentage points. The observed proportion of women who had systemic opioids during labour was 12.0% in 2020 and 10.6% in 2021, which was similar to the predicted proportions based on the modelling (11.6% in 2020 and 10.6% in 2021).
Data for modelling exclude 'Not stated' data and therefore may not match the proportions presented in the data visualisation above. For more information on modelling the trend over time, see Methods.
D’Souza R, Ashraf R, Rowe H Zipursky J, Clarfield L, Maxwell C, Arzola C, Lapinsky S, Paquette K, Murthy S, Cheng MP and Malhame I (2020) ‘Pregnancy and COVID-19: pharmacologic considerations’, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 57(2):195-203, doi:10.1002/uog.23116.
Froessler B, Malek M, Jila M, Parange A and Kelly TL (2022) ‘The impact of withholding nitrous oxide in labour during the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and neonatal outcomes’, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 62(6):910-914, doi:10.1111/ajo/13577.