Virtual reality treatment could reduce anxiety for women undergoing cesarean section with spinal anesthesia: a randomized controlled trial

Cesarean section may result in adverse psychosocial and behavioral outcomes because women put considerable emphasis on the process of birth. Virtual reality treatment has been shown by many studies to reduce anxiety and improve patient satisfaction. Therefore, we designed a randomized controlled trial to investigate whether the application of virtual reality technology during cesarean section can reduce maternal anxiety and improve satisfaction.

We recruited 128 women undergoing elective cesarean delivery with proposed spinal anesthesia and randomly assigned them to either virtual reality or routine care. The virtual reality intervention was a virtual reality program tailored specifically for women undergoing cesarean section. Primary outcome was the change in anxiety score (change = preoperative–intraoperative score). Secondary outcomes included patient satisfaction score, requirement of intraoperative sedative and analgesic drugs, and respiratory rate.

The change in anxiety score in the virtual reality group was significantly higher than that in the routine care group (30 [20, 47.5] vs 10 [− 10, 23.8], respectively; P < 0.001, with Hodges–Lehmann median difference estimate of 20 (95% confidence interval CI, 15–30)). There were no significant differences between the two groups in patient satisfaction scores, the requirement of intraoperative sedative and analgesic drugs, and respiratory rate and side effects.

Virtual reality treatment could reduce the anxiety of women undergoing elective cesarean section, which is beneficial to the mother and baby.

Trial registration

This study was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200061936) on July 11, 2022, and can be reached at https://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojEN.html?proj=173329.