Uncomplicated Caesarean section: is prolonged hospital stay necessary?

Caesarean section among the Yoruba of western Nigerian is surrounded by a lot of fears, miseries, aversion, guilt and misconceptions for reasons varying from the desire by women to have a natural vaginal birth, fear of surgery, morbidity and deaths from the operation and prolonged hospital stay.

To examine issues of reduced hospital stay following Caesarean section with a view of making the operation more acceptable and proffering solution to some of the problems faced by women when Caesarean section is indicated.

A prospective case control study.

Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesha, Nigeria from 1st July, 1997 to 30th June, 1998.

One hundred consecutive patients who had uncomplicated Caesarean section, randomised into two groups of short (three days) and prolonged (seven to eight days) hospital stay respectively.

Observations of patients in both groups were made by an independent observer on day seven post-operation and the main outcomes measured included: wound infection rates, ability to maintain erect posture, mood changes, neonatal sepsis rate, immunisation rate of the neonates and average hospital bills.

The findings revealed that wound infection rates of six per cent and ten per cent among the short and prolonged hospitalised patients respectively are not significantly different. Patients with short stay have better erect posture, lower incidence of depressive mood, lower neonatal sepsis rate, lower hospital bill and are more satisfied with early home discharge.

Embracing the concept of early home discharge after Caesarean section in uncomplicated cases may remove some of the psychological upsets and economical impediments associated with the operation and make the operation more acceptable.