Obstetrician's attitudes about delivery through cesarean section: A study in hospitals at Mexico City

Abstract

Objective

To identify the attitudes of medical obstetrician-gynecologists (Ob-Gyn) and its association with the cesarean section rate.

Material and methods

We performed a cross-sectional multicenter survey research, 197 Ob-Gyn were surveyed from eight hospitals, between November 2010 and May 2011. Data analysis included descriptive statistics on the general characteristics of Ob-Gyn, We used the χ² test for bivariate analyses of categorical variables and logistic regression models to associate Ob-Gyn attitudes and percentage of births by cesarean section.

Results

The percentage of cesarean sections births expressed by Ob-Gyn surveyed was 59.2%. Ob-Gyn expressed a preference to delivery by cesarean section in 33.5%, 60.9% of the Ob-Gyn considered themselves skillful when attending cesarean deliveries compared against vaginal delivery. Thirty five percent of Ob-Gyn has scheduled a cesarean section for convenience, while 83.8% of Ob-Gyn said that women prefer cesarean births. In the regression model five variables are significantly associated with the Ob-Gyn that perform 30% or more of their cesarean deliveries, among these include: perception that vaginal are safer procedures than cesarean deliveries and that women have right to choose the type of delivery, whether vaginal or cesarean, with an OR = 4.7 and 7.5 respectively.

Conclusions

We have shown that attitudes of Ob-Gyn who are associated with cesarean section rate. These attitudes could be related with the increase of the cesarean births.