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[Observations on vaginal delivery in women with previous cesarean section]
1Dipartimento di Discipline, Ginecologiche ed Ostetriche, Cattedra B, Università degli Studi, Turin, Italy.
Background:
The significant increase in cesarean sections both before (52.73%) and during labour (89.82%) observed in the 1990s compared to the period 1970-1980 prompted the authors to review the cases of women admitted to Department B of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic at the University of Turin and to study the number of women with previous cesarean sections undergoing labour. The aim of this study was to throw light on this complex question and to reduce the incidence of surgical births wherever possible.
Methods:
Two groups of pregnant women with previous cesarean sections were studied in Department B of the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic at the University of Turin: one group included women undergoing cesarean sections between 1990-1998, and the other included women undergoing cesarean sections between 1970-1980. The authors analysed the indications for repeat cesarean section and the percentage of vaginal births.
Results:
The results show that during 1970-1980 the percentage of vaginal births was 24.34% (259 vaginal births out of 1593 patients), whereas between 1990-1998 the percentage of vaginal births fell to 10.18% (51 vaginal births out of 1060 patients).
Conclusions:
The high percentage of repeat cesarean sections found in the 1990s is not only due to strictly medical reasons, but also to ethical and political motives, and above all the maternal desire not to undergo natural labour.