Association Between Mode of First Delivery and Subsequent Fecundity and Fertility

More than 20% of births globally are by cesarean delivery, including more than 30% in the US. Prior studies have reported lower rates of childbearing after cesarean delivery, but it is not clear if this is due to maternal choice or lower conception rates.

To investigate the association between mode of first delivery and subsequent conceptions and live births.

The First Baby Study was a multicenter prospective cohort study of women aged 18 to 35 years with singleton pregnancies, enrolled and interviewed before first childbirth, who delivered in Pennsylvania from 2009 to 2011 and were followed up for 36 months after delivery (until April 2014). Data analysis for this study took place between May and July 2019 and in January 2020.

Mode of first delivery (cesarean or vaginal).

Rates of subsequent conceptions and live births. Discrete-time Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to compare the rate of subsequent conception (vaginal vs cesarean) among those who completed the 36-month survey, accounting for reported months of unprotected intercourse during the follow-up period and adjusting for relevant covariates. A log binomial regression was used to compare the age-adjusted rate of subsequent live birth (vaginal vs cesarean) among those who completed the 36-month survey.

The study population consisted of 2423 women who were retained to the 36-month survey (mean [SD] age at baseline was 27.2 [4.4] years and 712 [29.4%] delivered by cesarean). There were 2046 women who had unprotected intercourse during the follow-up period, 2021 of whom provided data on months of unprotected intercourse. Cesarean delivery was associated with lower rates of conception after unprotected intercourse during the follow-up period (413 of 599 [68.9%]) compared with vaginal delivery (1090 of 1422 [76.7%]) (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74-0.96). Cesarean delivery was also associated with reduced likelihood of a subsequent live birth (305 women [42.8%]) compared with vaginal delivery (857 women [50.1%]), with an age-adjusted risk ratio of 0.83 (95% CI, 0.75-0.92).

In the 3 years following first childbirth, women who delivered their first child by cesarean had lower rates of conception after unprotected intercourse, and fewer of these women had a second child than those who delivered vaginally.