Abstract
Author(s): Ibrahim R, Khalil R, Ehab R, Osama R, Mohammed A and Hetler W*
Background: Caesarean delivery (CD) rates have increased in Egypt over the past years. Several factors affected this rise including maternal requests for CD. This study aims to determine the preference of mode of delivery among a sample of Egyptian women in the childbearing period and factors affecting it.
Methods: In this cross sectional study, a questionnaire adapted from a previous study was used. Five hundred and thirty seven women filled the questionnaire.
Results: A total of 537 Egyptian women participated in the survey, 78.03% of them declared they would prefer to deliver vaginally if they could choose the mode of delivery. The preference of vaginal delivery (VD) was significantly higher among nulliparous women (81.5%) and those without any previous caesarean (82.9%). The main reasons for preferring a VD were faster postpartum recovery, shorter hospital stay followed by believing that it is easier to breastfeed their babies with a less painful postpartum period. The main reason for preferring a CD was fear of pain followed by wanting to have a scheduled delivery and believing that the baby suffers less. The source of information that most influenced the preference of these women was their friends followed by their obstetricians and the internet.
Conclusion: Most of women in the child bearing period prefer VD. Although, CD preference level is lower than VD, it is much higher than other countries. So, women should be encouraged to choose VD to decrease this level of preference, in order to decrease morbidity and mortality rate resulting from the high rate of CD performed upon maternal request with no obstetrical indication.