Background and Aims

Interest in Labor Epidural Anesthesia: A 10 -Year Google Trends Analysis Tarick E. Ahmad BS* · Tejash P. Sikka BS MSBA · Ammaar Mohammad BS · Dr. Margaret O'Donoghue MD · Dr. Jacqueline Donovan MD

What Do Patients Search Before Choosing Epidural Analgesia?

•The Clinical Gap - Epidural anesthesia is the most used labor analgesic in the United States - yet patient knowledge, concerns, and information-seeking behaviors remain largely understudied.

• Hypothesis: Using 10 years of Google Trends data (2015-2025), we hypothesized that patient search interest in epidural safety, adverse effects, and logistics has risen, particularly following COVID-19, reflecting both evolving patient concerns and shifting health education channels. 

Methods

Data Source: Retrospective Google Trends query spanning May 2015 - May 2025

Query Extraction Top 50 labor-epidural questions extracted; Relative Search Volume (RSV) recorded for each term

Statistical Analysis One-way ANOVA used to compare mean RSV across terms (α = 0.05) Quality Scoring Top 10 terms: first 5 Google results scored using Global Quality Score (GQS, 1–5)

Results Rising Search Interest & Mixed Information Quality 50→89 RSV Increase Mean RSV for "epidural during labor" rose from 50 to 89 over the decade #1 Top Search Term "Epidural side effects" & "is epidural safe safe for baby" ranked highest in search search interest ★★★★☆ Duration & Safety Duration and safety queries returned returned high-quality results (GQS  4– 5) ★★☆☆☆ Cost Queries Cost queries had poor-quality results (GQS ≤2)

Key Takeaways & Future Directions

Escalating Online Interest Information Quality Gap Future Research Patient-driven searches for labor epidural anesthesia have increased significantly over the past decade, with a pronounced focus on safety and adverse effects. While some high-quality online resources exist for safety and duration queries, cost-related content remains consistently poor in quality, which is an actionable gap for clinician education efforts. A statewide survey of OB departments' patient-education practices post - pandemic is planned to assess how institutions are addressing evolving patient information needs.