Publication:

The burden of caesarean section and its determinants from a tertiary care hospital, Thrissur, Kerala, India

Background Caesarean section is a surgical procedure done when vaginal delivery is contraindicated. The prevalence of caesarean section in Kerala showing an increasing trend. Even though the caesarean section is an emergency lifesaving procedure, various other factors like socio-demographic determinants, economic factors and patient’s or clinician’s preferences also influence this increasing trend. The present study was undertaken to compare the various determinants of caesarean section with normal delivery from a tertiary care hospital in Thrissur district.

Methods A hospital-based case control study was done taking mothers who had undergone caesarean section as cases and mothers who had undergone normal delivery as controls during two-month period. The sample size was calculated using the formulae: (Zα + Zβ)2x2xPQ/d2, and the calculated sample size was 88. The various determinants used were socio-demographic, obstetrics and cultural determinants.

Results In this study, it was found that the most common indications for C-section were previous C-section, PPROM and foetal distress. There was a statistically significant association between obstetrics determinants like complications during pregnancy, number of USG taken, period of gestation with mode of delivery. The present study also shows that mothers with educational status up to graduate/PG have lesser incidence of caesarean section. There was a statistically significant association between delivery date close to holidays/festival days and C-section.

Conclusions It is necessary to have health awareness sessions to pregnant mothers about the complication of pregnancy, benefits of normal delivery and complications of C-sections in-order to reduce the patients’ preference for C-section.