Accuracy of recall of back pain after delivery: Table 1

The relation between epidural anaesthesia during labour and delivery and the subsequent development of back pain is unclear. While our recent prospective study showed no association,1 two retrospective surveys showed an increased risk of backache associated with epidural anaesthesia.2 3 The retrospective studies were conducted long after delivery (12 months to nine years) and response rates were poor (40% to 63%). One possible interpretation is response bias—that is, women who had received an epidural during labour and who later had backache were more likely to respond. Another possibility is recall bias—women given an epidural may have expected backache and therefore may have been more likely to recall it. We performed a follow up study to determine the accuracy of recall of back pain among women who did and did not …