There has been a 25% fall in anesthesia-related complications for women undergoing cesarean deliveries, with mortality rates falling as well, a comprehensive study of New York state hospital records has found. The bad news: Nonanesthetic perioperative complications jumped nearly 50%.
The study (Anesthesiology 2015;123:1013-1023) examined 785,854 cesarean deliveries in hospitals across New York state from 2003 to 2012. The fall in anesthesia-related complications occurred in all settings,