Effect of pre-operative patient anxiety on post-spinal shivering during elective cesarean section: a prospective observational study

Intra-operative shivering is common in patients undergoing cesarean delivery (CD) under neuraxial anesthesia, with a reported incidence of 36% to71%.1 Unlike post-spinal shivering in non-obstetric patients, data from obstetric surgical patients are limited.2 –4While post-spinal shivering is traditionally understood as a thermoregulatory response to sympathectomy below the level of the spinal block, there is growing evidence to suggest that this phenomenon could be affected by anxiety states.5–6Anxiety-induced autonomic changes could alter inputs to and from the thermoregulatory center, thereby affecting the incidence and severity of obstetric post-spinal shivering.
Source: International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research