A high prevalence of caesarean section rate in East Delhi

Abstract

Pregnancy and delivery are considered as normal physiological states in women. Of all deliveries approximately 10% are considered high-risk some of which may require caesarean section. Of late the incidence of caesarean is steadily rising. In the last few decades the caesarean rates have increased dramatically in the developed world. Amongst developing countries like Brazil and Chine also the caesarean section rates have sky-rocketed. In India data collected from 30 medical colleges/teaching hospital revealed that caesarean section rates increased from 21.8% in 1988-1989 to 25.4% in 1993-1994. A population based cross-sectional study conducted in India a caesarean section of 32.6% has been documented from Madras City in South India. Clearly these rates are unacceptably high all over the globe. We conducted the present study to find out the prevalence of caesarean section in an urban community of East Delhi. (excerpt)