Caesarean section for dystocia: a comparison of practices in two countries.

Retrospective data collected from the medical records of 1040 low-risk nulliparous obstetric patients presenting for delivery in a general community hospital in Ireland and a comparable one in the United States showed a significantly higher rate of caesarean section for dystocia or abnormal labour in the American hospital--a discrepancy which was not easily explained by differences in patient characteristics (eg, maternal age, known risk factors, birthweight). Acceleration of labour with oxytocin was significantly more common in the Irish group, and average duration of labour was shorter. No advantage to the infant, as measured by the Apgar score, resulted from the greater use of caesarean section for dystocia.