ROLE OF ANTENATAL CHECKUP ON CAESAREAN SECTION RATE - STUDY AT CMH ATTOCK.

Objective: The present study was designed to study the role of antenatal check upon caesarean section (C-Section) rate in patients reporting to labour room. Study Design: Prospective cohort study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Attock, from Oct 2014 to Mar 2015. Material and Methods: A total of 447 patients who underwent treatment in CMH Attock were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups: 1) Booked patients - the ones who consulted obstetrician regularly during pregnancy, 2) Unbooked patients - These patients do not consult obstetrician for ante-natal checkup during the pregnancy. The data was collected on a proforma and was statistically analyzed. Results: About 77.85% of the total recruited patients in the study were booked while 22.15% were un-booked. A 37.6% of the booked patients had to undergo caesarian section (c-section) while 62.4% patient underwent spontaneous vaginal delivery (SVD). Whereas 51.5% un-booked patients had c-section while 48.5% patients underwent SVD. Point two percent and 2.5% of the overall patients had gestational diabetes and anaemia respectively. Three percent of the total pregnant patients were diagnosed as being hypertensive. Patient history revealed that 3% patients had bad obstetrics history and 76.9% of them attended ante-natal clinic. Conclusion: In our set up overall C-section rate was 42.6% but in the booked group the rate was 37.6% as compared to the much higher 51.5% in the un-booked group thus indicating that high C-section rate in the unbooked group contributed in a major way to the overall C-section rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]