Epidurals During Labor and Autism in Children: New Data

A new study refutes prior research linking epidurals with autism spectrum disorder.

You would be hard-pressed to think of a medical innovation that has alleviated more human suffering than epidural analgesia.

Epidurals changed the process of childbirth from what, for many women, was an agonizing, if rewarding experience to one that was, well, manageable and rewarding. In the US, 73% percent of births are to women who have received an epidural. It is not only a common practice, it is the norm.

That epidurals might increase the risk of autism in a child, as reported in an October study in JAMA Pediatrics out of the Kaiser health system, casts a pall over the practice, and the headlines quickly followed.

The response to that original article was pretty swift, with the major pediatrics, anesthesia, and ob/gyn societies among others denouncing it as flawed, pointing out that there was a failure to adjust for multiple potential confounders.

As an aside, I want to point out that epidurals are about more than avoiding pain — not that…