Interpregnancy interval and perinatal outcomes across Latin America from 1990 to 2009: a large multi-country study

Objective: To determine the relationship of interpregnancy interval with maternal and offspring outcomes. Design: Retrospective study with data from the Perinatal Information System database of the Latin American Centre for Perinatology and Human Development, Uruguay. Setting: Latin America, 1990-2009. Population: A cohort of 894 476 women delivering singleton infants. Methods: During 1990-2009 the Perinatal Information System database of the Latin American Centre for Perinatology identified 894 476 women with defined interpregnancy intervals: i.e. the time elapsed between the date of the previous delivery and the first day of the last normal menstrual period for the index pregnancy. Using the interval 12-23 months as the reference category, multiple logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of the association between various interval lengths and maternal and offspring outcomes. Main outcome measures: Maternal death, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, puerperal infection, fetal death, neonatal death, preterm birth, and low birthweight. Results: In the reference interval there was 0.05% maternal death, 1.00% postpartum haemorrhage, 2.80% pre-eclampsia, 0.15% eclampsia, 0.28% puerperal infection, 3.45% fetal death, 0.68% neonatal death, 12.33% preterm birth, and 9.73% low birthweight. Longer intervals had increased odds of pre-eclampsia (>72 months), fetal death (>108-119 months), and low birthweight (96-107 months). Short intervals of <12 months had increased odds of pre-eclampsia (aOR 0.80; 95% CI 0.76-0.85), neonatal death (aOR 1.18; 95% CI 1.08-1.28), and preterm birth (aOR 1.16; 95% CI 1.11-1.21). Statistically, the interval had no relationship with maternal death, eclampsia, and puerperal infection. Conclusions: A short interpregnancy interval of <12 months is associated with pre-eclampsia, neonatal mortality, and preterm birth, but not with other maternal or offspring outcomes. Longer intervals of >72 months are associated with pre-eclampsia, fetal death, and low birthweight, but not with other maternal or offspring outcomes. (AU)

A global reference for caesarean section rates (C-Model): a multicountry cross-sectional study

Objective: To generate a global reference for caesarean section (CS) rates at health facilities. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Health facilities from 43 countries. Population/sample: Thirty eight thousand three hundred and twenty-four women giving birth from 22 countries for model building and 10,045,875 women giving birth from 43 countries for model testing. Methods: We hypothesised that mathematical models could determine the relationship between clinical-obstetric characteristics and CS. These models generated probabilities of CS that could be compared with the observed CS rates. We devised a three-step approach to generate the global benchmark of CS rates at health facilities: creation of a multi-country reference population, building mathematical models, and testing these models. Main outcome measures: Area under the ROC curves, diagnostic odds ratio, expected CS rate, observed CS rate. Results: According to the different versions of the model, areas under the ROC curves suggested a good discriminatory capacity of C-Model, with summary estimates ranging from 0.832 to 0.844. The C-Model was able to generate expected CS rates adjusted for the case-mix of the obstetric population. We have also prepared an e-calculator to facilitate use of C-Model (www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/maternal_perinatal_health/c-model/en/). Conclusions: This article describes the development of a global reference for CS rates. Based on maternal characteristics, this tool was able to generate an individualised expected CS rate for health facilities or groups of health facilities. With C-Model, obstetric teams, health system managers, health facilities, health insurance companies, and governments can produce a customised reference CS rate for assessing use (and overuse) of CS. (AU)

Pregnancy outcomes associated with cesarean deliveries in Peruvian public health facilities

A continuous rise in the rate of cesarean deliveries has been reported in many countries over recent decades. This trend has prompted the emergence of a debate on the risks and benefits associated with cesarean section. The present study was designed to estimate cesarean section rates over time during the period between 2000 and 2010 in Peru and to present outcomes for each mode of delivery. This is a secondary analysis of a large database obtained from the Perinatal Information System, which includes 570,997 pregnant women and their babies from 43 Peruvian public health facilities in three geographical regions: coast, highlands, and jungle. Over 10 years, 558,901 women delivered 563,668 infants weighing at least 500 g. The cesarean section rate increased from 25.5% in 2000 to 29.9% in 2010 (26.9% average; P < 0.01). The rate of stillbirths was lower with cesarean than vaginal deliveries (P < 0.01). On the other hand, and as expected, the rates for preterm births, twin pregnancies, and preeclampsia were higher in women who delivered by cesarean section (P < 0.01). More importantly, the rate of maternal mortality was 5.5 times higher in the cesarean section group than in the vaginal delivery group. Data suggest that cesarean sections are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes