Abstract:
Background: Post-Dural puncture headache is a major complication of neuraxial anesthesia that can
occur following spinal and epidural anesthesia. It is, postural, and frontal and relieved when the patient
is supine position and aggravated during standing, sitting, coughing. Therefore, we aimed to determine
the incidence and factors associated with post dural puncture headache following cesarean section under
spinal anesthesia.
Methods: An institution based cross sectional study was conducted from March 01 to May 29, 2019. A
total of 384 willing patients were included in the study after obtaining ethical consent. Data was entered
and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) window version 20. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabs and binary logistic regression analysis were performed to identify the association
between post dural puncture headache and independent variables. The strength of the association was
presented using adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and p-value<0.05 was considered as
statistically significant.
Results: The incidence of post dural puncture headache was 31.3% (95% CI: 26.8, 35.9) with response rate
of 92.5%. Majority of the patients who developed it were on the 2nd day with majority of the pain being
moderate. In this study body mass index, Size of spinal needle, number of attempt and educational status
of anesthetists were significantly associated with it.
Conclusion: In this study non-obese patients, big spinal needles, repeated number of attempts and
educational status of anesthetists were the independent associated risk factors for post dural puncture
headache.
