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Can antenatal classes reduce the rate of cesarean section in southern Italy?
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Background Among European Countries, Italy has the highest rate of cesarean section (36.8%), and in the Campania region this rate reaches 60.0%. Question We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate whether participation in antenatal classes during pregnancy reduces the rate of cesarean delivery in southern Italy. Methods We selected three local health authorities, with the lowest, the highest, and an intermediate rate of cesarean delivery. The study included 1893 mothers who brought their children for vaccination and were interviewed about their participation in antenatal classes and their obstetric history. Findings The main causes of cesarean section given in the interview were clinical indications (61.0%), previous cesarean section (31.0%) and woman's request (8.0%). When we excluded emergency cesarean delivery, we found a moderate association between participation in antenatal classes and cesarean section reduction (relative risk = 1.27; 95% CI = 1.08–1.49; in percentage values from 49.3% to 38.8%). Private hospitals and the two local health authorities with higher baseline rates of cesarean section showed an enhanced reduction of these rates. Conclusion Our paper shows moderate efficacy of antenatal classes, which reduced the occurrence of cesarean section by about 10%. However, the cesarean section rate remained high. As it is possible that different classes have a different level of efficacy, a further study on a standardized model of an antenatal classes is in progress, to assess its efficacy in term of cesarean section reduction, with the purpose of its widespread implementation to the whole region.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Retrospective cohort study
medicine.medical_specialty
Epidemiology
Previous cesarean section
Cohort Studies
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Obstetrics and gynaecology
Patient Education as Topic
Pregnancy
Maternity and Midwifery
medicine
Childbirth
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Cesarean delivery
reproductive and urinary physiology
Emergency Cesarean Delivery
Retrospective Studies
030219 obstetrics & reproductive medicine
Obstetrics
business.industry
Antenatal classe
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Prenatal Care
medicine.disease
Italy
Female
Pregnant Women
business
Cesarean section
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....cf2c407203b54255790ad571fdd6c8f1