Decision Delivery Interval for Emergency Caesarean Section and its Impact on Perinatal Outcome in a Tertiary Hospital in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Based on standard guidelines, decision delivery interval for emergency caesarean section should be within 30minutes. Despite this recommendation, patients still encounter delays after the decision for emergency caesarean section has been made. The aim of this study was to determine the mean decision delivery interval for emergency caesarean section, proportion of participants that met the recommended decision delivery interval, factors and perinatal outcomes associated with prolonged decision delivery interval. Methodology: This was an observational cross - sectional study carried out in Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, between April 2023 and August 2023. 184 consecutive pregnant women who had emergency caesarean section and met the inclusion criteria were recruited and data were collected with a structured proforma and analysed using the SPSS version 25 software. Results: The mean decision delivery interval for emergency caesarean section was 104.1 ± 72.2 minutes. Only14 participants (7.6%) met the recommended decision delivery interval. The leading causes of delay in decision delivery interval for emergency caesarean section were the inability to procure surgical materials, busy theatre suite and inability to procure blood for surgery. There was no statistically significant association between prolonged decision delivery interval and perinatal outcome. Conclusion: The mean decision delivery interval was longer than the recommended decision delivery interval of 30 minutes. Although this had no impact on perinatal outcome in this study. Unecessary delays are not justified and delivery should be within the shortest possible time.