Around 4 in 5 women who had labour in Australia received pain relief. More than 9 in 10 women who had an instrumental vaginal birth received pain relief. Additionally, women who gave birth in a private hospital were more likely to receive pain relief than women who gave birth in a public hospital.
Compared with mothers who had pain relief, mothers who did not have pain relief were more likely to:
- be aged 40 or more
- have given birth before
- be Indigenous (age-standardised).