[Factors related to hemorrhage during cesarean section]

Cesarean section is the most frequent surgery done at health sector hospitals and its most frequent complications include hemorrhage.

To determine if risk factors known for this complication are really a risk and to determine the reliability of the measurement of hematocrit and hemoglobin as parameters to quantify the hemorrhage.

A prospective study involving 412 patients was done analyzing the following variables: age, previous cesarean section, occupation, body mass index, hours of labor, weight of the newborn, surgical time, bleeding estimated by the anesthesiologist, hemoglobin and hematocrit.

By measuring hemoglobin a significant difference was obtained in favor of minor bleeding in the groups of 21 to 30 years, with normal weight and moderate obesity, with two prior cesarean sections, weight of the newborns of 3 to 4 kg, with less than two hours of labor, when the surgery took less than 50 minutes and when the bleeding was estimated at less than 500 mL. By measuring hematocrit the difference was significant in favor of more bleeding in the following groups: from 31 to 40 years, with mild obesity, without none or one cesarean section, with weight of newborns from 3 to 4 kg, with three to six hours of labor, when the cesarean section took 41 to 50 minutes and when the bleeding was estimated at less than 500 mL.

There are significant differences with the measurement of hemoglobin and hematocrit among the risk factors analyzed.