Impact of nitrous oxide use on parturient recall of neuraxial analgesia risks

Nitrous oxide affects memory and recall. We aimed to determine if using nitrous oxide during labor affected patients' ability to learn and recall the risks and benefits of neuraxial analgesia.

Single-center, prospective cohort study.

Labor and delivery unit in a large academic medical center.

Nulliparous patients with spontaneous or planned induction of labor.

Parturients chose whether to use nitrous oxide during labor. At the discussion for epidural consent, 4 risks were described: headache, infection, nerve damage, bleeding.

Labor pain score, time from nitrous oxide discontinuation, and cervical dilation were documented at the discussion of epidural risks. Patients were assessed for unprompted recall and prompted recall of epidural risks on postpartum day 1 and unprompted recall at postpartum week 6. The number and proportion of patients who indicated each true risk (unprompted and prompted recall) or distractor (prompted recall only) were summarized by treatment group and results compared using Pearson χ² tests.

Of the 403 enrolled patients, 294 (73%) did not use nitrous oxide, and 109 (27%) did. The 2 groups were similar except women who used nitrous oxide were more likely to be cared for by midwives and had higher pain scores at their epidural request. Scores for unprompted or prompted recall of epidural risks were not different between women who received or did not receive nitrous oxide. All 4 risks were recalled unprompted by only 3% in the nitrous oxide group and by 6% in the group not receiving nitrous oxide (P = .18).

The use of nitrous oxide for labor analgesia does not adversely influence a parturient's ability to recall the risks of epidural placement. Patients who receive nitrous oxide for labor analgesia should be considered eligible to provide consent for subsequent procedures.