Auditing the cesarean section rate by Robson’s ten group classification system at Tertiary Care Hospital.

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the trends of cesarean sections, categorize them into Robson’s Ten Group Classification System (RTGCS), to identify the groups contributing the most to overall lower segment cesarean section (LSCS) rate and to formulate strategies for reducing these rates. Study Design: Cross sectional population based study. Setting: Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) hospital, Islamabad. Period: From 1^st Nov, 2017 to 30^th April, 2018. Material & Methods: The births during this period were distributed into the RTGCS on the basis of past obstetric history and fetal characteristics along with mode of onset of labour. Overall LSCS rate was calculated and contribution of each group was analyzed separately by SPSS version 23. Results: Our study showed 617 LSCS out of 964 deliveries making a high LSCS rate of 64%. Group 5, 2 and 10 of RTGCS contributed to the majority of LSCS performed with the percentages of 47.5%, 18.5% and 12.8% respectively. Group 5 of RTGCS which contributed to the highest LSCS rate had 354 subjects which were previous scars out of which 199 had previous 1 scar making the percentage 56.21%. It contributed 32.3% to the overall LSCS rate. Conclusion: RTGCS is a very useful tool for auditing the LSCS rate at local, national and international levels. Once the LSCS are classified into specific RTGCS, analysis can be done about the reasons for the increasing rates of LSCS and then strategies can be devised to reduce them.