Caesarean section rates in an African country.

The use of caesarean section (C.S.) has been analysed in the 12 hospitals of the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe during a 2-year period. Maternal mortality rate, perinatal mortality rate, low birthweight rate, percentage of high risk pregnancy, C.S. rate and instrumental delivery rate have been extracted for each hospital. The rate of C.S. delivery varied between 2.2 and 16.8 per 100 deliveries but was not correlated with the number of high-risk pregnancies. Increased use of C.S. was not linked to better perinatal results. An important determinant of the C.S. rate appears to be the physician and the ratio between the rate of instrumental deliveries (ID) and C.S. differentiated the 12 hospitals into two groups. Although there was no difference in the number of high risk patients in these two groups, outcomes were much better in the hospitals with a high ID rate than in the hospitals with a high C.S. rate, suggesting that attitudes of medical staff can influence both the mode of delivery and the perinatal outcome in a developing country.