Profile of Pregnant Women and Success of the Uterine Test on a Uni- or Bi-Scar Uterus at the Maternity Ward of Panzi Hospital, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Introduction: Trial of labor after a previous cesarean section (TOLAC) is a method that requires strict monitoring to decrease the cesarean section (CS) rate and improve the maternal and neonatal prognosis. The objective is to determine the profile and outcome of patients with one and two previous CSs who performed TOLAC at Panzi General Referral Hospital. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study with a prospective collection of data of 111 patients with one and two previous CSs at Panzi Hospital from January 2021 to August 2022. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS version 23 software was used to analyze the collected data. The percentages of categorical variables were summarized in a frequency table. The mean or median with standard deviation was used to summarize quantitative variables. Results: The overall success rate of the TOLAC was 64%, with 63.8% following one previous CS and 64.3% following two CSs. The mean age of the patients was 27.09 years, with an age range of 25 -34 years. They were mostly pauciparous (52.2%), married (88.3%), with a high school education (60.4%). The inter-delivery interval > 18 months was noted (64.1%) and overweight in 63.9%. More than three antenatal consultations were performed (58.6%). We found a mean gestational age of 38 (34 -41) weeks. The perinatal mortality rate was 0.9%. However, we did not record any cases of maternal mortality during the study period. Conclusion: TOLAC after one and two previous CS is imple-