Relationship Between the Number of Cesarean Deliveries and Maternal-fetal Complications

Objective: Cesarean operation is very common and it is being performed increasingly all over the world. In this study, the effect of the number of cesarean deliveries on maternal and fetal health was evaluated. Materials and Methods: We included patients who underwent cesarean section in our clinic between October 2014 and October 2017, who had no additional disease, between 38 and 40 gestational weeks, and ages between 18 and 40 years. Postnatal records were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who had pregnancy complications such as pregnancy hypertension, gestational diabetes, oligohydramnios, polyhydramnios, or who had a dysmorphic appearing baby or with any genetic syndrome were excluded. Patients were divided into three groups according to the number of cesareans they had undergone. Group 1 consisted of patients with history of two cesarean deliveries, group 2 consisted of patients with 3 cesarean deliveries and group three consisted of patients with 4 or more cesarean deliveries. Groups were then compared to each other for their demographic data and maternal - fetal outcomes. Results: Mean age of the patients studied was 32.4 years [standard deviation (SD): 4.4], mean gestational week was 38 weeks and 2 days (SD: 0.55), and mean hospitalization duration was: 4.4 days (SD: 1.0). There was no significant correlation between the number of cesarean section and the parameters of birth weight, duration of hospital stay, and appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration scores. Conclusion: The history for the number of previous cesarean deliveries for a pregnancy may not seem to be correlated with increased maternal or fetal complications up to four previous cesarean deliveries. There is a need for future studies with even larger patients to support our findings.