Utilization of labour analgesia: the experience with pharmacological agents among parturients at a tertiary centre in south-south Nigeria

Background: The demand for pain relief in labour has been on the increase, due to the fact that majority of parturient perceive labour pain as being severe. In spite of this, the utilization of analgesia in labour has not been shown to be satisfactory especially in low resource settings.Objectives: To assess the use of pharmacological method of pain management in labour among parturients at a tertiary Centre in Port Harcourt, South-South Nigeria.Methodology: Three hundred and ninety-three (393) women who had spontaneous vaginal delivery at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital were recruited consecutively in a descriptive cross-sectional study. The women who gave consent for the study were recruited within 24 hours of delivery. The data was collected using an interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire and analysis was done using SPSS 20.Results: The mean age of respondents was 30.30 years with standard deviation of 5.01 years. The mean parity was Para 1 while the mean gestational age at delivery was 38.12 weeks (SD-3.63 weeks) Most (88.3%) of the parturient rated labour pain as being severe with 80.9% of the study population desiring pain relief. Out of those who desired pain relief, only 28.9% requested for analgesia and only 18.5% of those that requested for analgesia received it. Out of the total number of respondents, only 5.9% received labour analgesia. The agents used were; pentazocine (3.8%), epidural (1.5%), tramadol (0.3%) and paracetamol (0.3%).Conclusion: There is poor utilization of the pharmacological agents for labour analgesia among the parturients despite the need. This may be due to lack of established protocols on obstetric analgesia in most obstetric units especially in the low and medium income countries. A protocol on pain relief in labour is therefore needed in order to make the labour experience pleasant for parturients.