Surgical errors and complications following cesarean delivery in the United States

Cesarean delivery is the most common inpatient surgery performed internationally. Although cesarean delivery is typically performed to prevent adverse maternal and fetal outcomes, there is still a risk of surgical errors and complications. This study examined maternal and hospital risk factors associated with errors and complications following cesarean delivery in the United States.

To determine the prevalence of, and associated individual- and hospital-level risk factors for, surgical errors and complications following cesarean delivery in the United States.

Data were obtained from the 2012-2014 National Inpatient Sample. Surgical errors (eg,. foreign body retained during surgery, anesthetic error) can be the result of human error, whereas complications (eg, mortality, postpartum hemorrhage) can be due to external factors such as pre-existing comorbidities. The overall prevalence of surgical errors and complications in cesarean delivery was calculated. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine the association between individual and hospital characteristics and surgical errors/complications.

Among 648,584 cesarean delivery hospitalizations, 1.98% (95% confidence interval, 1.95-2.01%) and 8.43% (95% confidence interval, 8.40-8.46%) of women had an error or complication, respectively. The most common errors were anesthetic errors, errors involving blood vessels, and errors involving the bladder. The most common complications were postpartum hemorrhage, infection, and hysterectomy. Both individual- and hospital-level factors were associated with errors and complications. Women with Medicaid insurance had increased odds of errors (odds ratio, 1.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.37-1.43) but lower odds of complications (odds ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.88-0.90) compared to women with private insurance. Compared to non-Hispanic white women, women of all races had lower odds of error, and only non-Hispanic black women had greater odds of complications (odds ratio, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.16). Similarly, rural hospitals had lower odds of surgical errors (odds ratio, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.56-0.62) and complications (odds ratio, 0.61; 95% confidence interval, 0.59-0.62), whereas hospitals with a large bed number had greater odds of errors and complications than medium-bed size hospitals, at 1.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.17), and 1.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.15), respectively.

This study identified specific risk factors for errors and complications that can be further examined through quality improvement frameworks to reduce the prevalence of adverse maternal events during cesarean delivery.