Caesarean delivery in Uganda: Do non-clinical factors explain the trend?

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to assess the association between non-clinical factors and Caesarean delivery in Uganda. Self-reported data from the individual recode file were extracted from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), with a sub sample of 9929 women aged 15-49 with a recent birth in the last 5 years preceding the survey. Chi-square tests and multivariate comlementary log-log regression models were used to examine the relationship between non-clinical factors and Caesarean section delivery. About one in ten (7%) of the women aged 15-49 had Caesarean deliveries. Non-clinical factors which were significantly associated with Caesarean section delivery include advanced maternal age, having the first birth compared to subsequent births, having 1-3 children compared to 4 or more children, higher level of women’s education relative to no education, being in the middle, richer, and richest wealth quintile compared to the poorest quintile. In conclusion, evidence suggests that the trend in Caesarean delivery can be attributed partially to non-clinical factors including advanced maternal age, birth order, parity, women’s education level, and wealth quintile. Thus, efforts to address the trend in Caesarean section delivery, need to take account of non-clinical factors.

Prevalence of Cesarean Section Among Nurses: Predictors and Effect on Exclusive Breastfeeding

“…And this is higher compared to 15.7% of the Ghanaian general population (Alhassan, 2022). And this is even higher compared to results from other African countries (Adewuyi et al, 2019;Nakinobe et al, 2022;Kibe et al, 2022). However, this is low compared with results from developed countries including 25.9% in China, 32.3% in Australia/New Zealand, and 45.9% in Brazil (Betrán et al, 2016).…”

“…Developed countries have high rates of CS delivery, including 25.9% in China, 32.3% in Australia/New Zealand, and 45.9% in Brazil ( Betrán et al, 2016 ). And in Africa, the prevalence differs among the countries: Uganda (7.0% in 2022), Rwanda (15.6% in 2020), and Nigeria (2.1%) ( Adewuyi et al, 2019 ; Nakinobe et al, 2022 ; Kibe et al, 2022 ). In Ghana, a recent national study by Alhassan reported the prevalence to be 15.7%, which is higher as compared to 11.4% in an earlier study by Dankwa et al ( Alhassan, 2022 ; Dankwah et al, 2019 ).…”