The Generalizability of Patients’ Preferences and Concerns regarding Anesthesia Care for Cesarean Delivery: A Prospective Survey

Table 3

Cesarean anesthesia preferences and expectations from the current University of Chicago Medicine survey compared to those from the previous Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford study.

		UCM	LPCH	value
Preferred wakefulness during cesarean	Asleep	9 (12)	13 (16)	0.53
	Awake but sleepy	15 (21)	21 (26)
	Awake	49 (67)	47 (58)
Biggest fear is “paralysis”		42 (59)	40 (49)	0.26
Least desirable outcome is “pain during” or “pain after” surgery		51 (76)	50 (70)	0.57
Preferred anesthetic dose	Lowest	7 (10)	4 (8)	0.75
	Moderate	40 (55)	30 (60)
	Highest	25 (35)	16 (32)
Expected pain after surgery	None	15 (21)	11 (14)	0.28
	Some	38 (52)	50 (62)
	Moderate	18 (25)	18 (22)
	Severe	2 (3)	2 (2)
Predicted pain tolerance		6.3 ± 2.4	5.7 ± 2.2	0.08

UCM: University of Chicago Medicine; LPCH: Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford. Data presented as number (percentage) or mean ± standard deviation. Because some patients did not answer every question, percentages are reported as proportion of total responses for each question. Carvalho B, Cohen SE, Lipman SS, Fuller A, Mathusamy AD, and Macario A. Patient preferences for anesthesia outcomes associated with cesarean delivery. Anesth Analg. 2005; 101 (4): 1182-11.