Background: The rate of caesarean section, CS, has increased worldwide (Betran AP, 2021). This raises health concerns for birthing women, due to the complications CS can contribute with, such as bleeding, infections, risk for the child, and risk for complications of future pregnancy and birth (Burmester, 2021) (Haerskjold A, 2012).
Aim: To estimate the variation in use of acute CS between Danish hospitals
Methods: Risk factors for acute CS was discovered through literature, and a Directed Acyclic Graph, correcting for potential confounding, was made. Data from 65,996 women of Robson group 1 or 2a was sourced from DNQDB and BEF. Unadjusted and adjusted IRR values for regions and hospitals were estimated, and corresponding forest plots were made. Furthermore, an exploratory analysis excluding women with medical conditions and smokers was made, and adjusted IRR was estimated for this study subpopulation.
Results: This study concludes that a variation in use of acute CS between Danish hospitals can be observed. It was observed that less hospitals varied statistically from Rigshospitalet, when adjustments for maternal age, BMI, and socioeconomic measures, was made. It was thereby observed that there is a difference in risk of acute CS according to hospital where birth is given among nulliparous women with a singleton pregnancy at 37 weeks or above, intendent to delivery vaginally. The variation was not observed to be due to medical conditions.