Cesarean section rate changes after audit and feedback with the Ten Group Classification System in a French perinatal...

The rise in the number of cesarean sections (CS) is a major health public problem which concerns nearly all countries. It is suggested that the Ten Group Classification System be adapted to a procedure of audit/feedback cycles, which could have an effect on CS practice. Therefore, we aimed to study changes in CS rates between maternity wards in a perinatal network after implementation of the Ten Group Classification System in an audit with feedback.

This was a retrospective pre-post study of all births from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2018, in a French perinatal network of 10 maternity wards in the Yvelines district of France. All live births occurring at a gestational age ≥24 weeks in the network were included. During the pre-period (1 January 2012 to 31 December 2014), the audit and feedback provided only overall CS rates. During the post-period (1 January 2015 to 31 December 2018), CS rates for each Robson Ten Group Classification System group were provided. Regression models, adjusted for maternal characteristics and maternity ward, were used to compare CS rates globally and for each group of the system. Variability of CS rates between maternity wards was analyzed using the coefficients of variation.

There were 51 082 women who delivered during the pre-period and 63 964 during the post-period. The overall CS rate did not decrease (24.5% during the pre-period vs 25.1% during the post-period). There were no significant differences in CS rates for any group of the Ten Group Classification System after adjustment for maternity, maternal age and sociodemographic characteristics, nor did audit implementation decrease CS rate variability between maternity wards or within groups of the system.

Implementation of an audit-and-feedback cycle using the Ten Group Classification System did not decrease either CS rates or variability between maternity wards.