Planned C-sections can be safer than normal births, finds research

Planned cesarean deliveries on request by mothers are safer for low-risk pregnancies than normal deliveries, researchers have found.

These planned C-Section childbirths also have a lower risk of adverse delivery outcomes than planned vaginal deliveries, according to a new research by the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

Whereas this research associated vaginal deliveries with a lower risk of transient tachypnea of the newborn, newborn exposure to the vaginal microbiome, shorter maternal hospital stays and lower risk of complications due to abdominal surgeries, data from low-risk pregnancies showed that mid pelvic operative vaginal delivery was associated with a greater risk of severe birth and obstetric trauma than planned cesarean delivery.

Low-risk pregnancies

This data was collected from 422,210 low-risk pregnancies over a six-year period from 2012 to 2018. Out of these, the researchers observed 46,533 cesarean childbirths.

“The two modes of delivery are safe for both mother and baby when undertaken at authorised health centres.

However, planned caesarean deliveries for low-risk pregnancies had a notably lower risk for both mother and baby than planned vaginal births for the same type of pregnancy,” said Dr Darine El-Chaâr, who co-led the team of researchers at the department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Newborn Care, The Ottawa Hospital, in Canada.

Dr El-Chaâr further explained that the most common maternal adverse outcomes were unanticipated operative procedures for women who planned, and third-or fourth-degree perineal tear for women who planned vaginal deliveries.

Admission or transfer to the neonatal intensive care unit was the most common neonatal outcome for both the planned cesarean delivery on maternal request and planned vaginal delivery.