Aims: Most of the elective and emergence cesarean sections in the world's credible treatment centers are performed under spinal anesthesia. Either spinal or general anesthesia is associated with complications. The use of spinal anesthesia is recommended because of maintaining the safety of mother and her newborn. This study aimed to determine the incidence of complications related to spinal and general anesthesia after cesarean section.

Methods: This cross-sectional, analytic study was performed in 2011 on all candidate women for elective cesarean section referred to 22^nd of Bahman Hospital in Gonabad city, Iran and 122 cases were selected by simple sampling method. The data were collected with a researcher-made questionnaire include the demographic, pre-operation and post-operation information. These data were analyzed with SPSS 16 and independent T and Chi square tests.

Results: There were significant relations between the incidence of sore throat (p=0.001), muscle pain (p=0.002), rapid return of pain after surgery (p=0.001) and headache (p=0.047) after cesarean section and the type of anesthesia. There was only a significant relation between headache and satisfaction of the pregnant women from cesarean section (p=0.21). There was no significant relation between the age of pregnant woman and any types of complications.

Conclusion: The rate of sore throat, muscle pain and rapid return of pain after surgery is higher after general anesthesia than spinal anesthesia.