Neighborhood disadvantage and general anesthesia utilization in cesarean delivery: a retrospective analysis

Neighborhood disadvantage, a social driver of health (SDOH), has been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes; yet little is known about its association with anesthetic choice. The purpose of this study is to assess the association of neighborhood disadvantage and anesthetic choice for cesarean deliveries. We hypothesize that people from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to receive general anesthesia for cesarean deliveries compared to those from the most advantaged neighborhoods. This single-center retrospective cohort study identified index cesarean deliveries performed between 2008 and 2017. People were categorized into no, low, moderate, and high disadvantage neighborhood using the area deprivation index. The odds of receiving general anesthesia versus neuraxial anesthesia (epidural, spinal, or combined spinal-epidural) were compared using logistic regression models. Of the 16,351 people with cesarean deliveries, 96.0% received neuraxial versus 4.0% general anesthesia. The rates of general anesthesia were 6.3%, 4.2%, 3.1%, and 2.4% for the high, moderate, low, and no disadvantage groups (P