MELBOURNE, Mar 14: Women who had a Caesarean section for their first child births are likely to face more health risks if they go for a vaginal birth of their second baby, a new research by Australian experts have claimed.
According to a report in ‘The Australian’, a study which included over 2,300 women at 14 hospitals in Australia who were preparing for their second child, was published in open access journal PloS One.
The report said that about half signed up for a vaginal birth after C-section, or VBAC, and the other half chose to repeat the surgery.
Women who planned a repeat C-section had a significantly lower rate of complications than women who chose to deliver vaginally the second time — 2.4 per cent risk of death or serious complication compared to 0.9 per cent in the surgery group, it noted.
Similarly, the risk of complications to the mother, such as major bleeding or haemorrhage, was 2.3 per cent for women who delivered vaginally compared to 0.8 per cent for a planned repeat C-section.
“Until now there has been a lack of high-quality evidence comparing the benefits and harms of the two planned modes of birth after previous Caesarean,” lead author Caroline Crowther from the Australian Research Centre for the Health of Women and Babies, part of the University of Adelaide, was quoted as saying by the report.
“The information from this study will help women, clinicians and policy makers to develop health advice and make decisions about care for women who have had a previous Caesarean”. (PTI)
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