Amuzza Aylla Pereira dos Santos

Epidemiologic profile of puerperals submitted to unnecessary caesarean section

Objective: to analyze the epidemiological profile of puerperals subjected to unnecessary cesarean section. Method: a cross-sectional and observational study with quantitative approach performed from dissertation extract “Epidemiologic profile of puerperals submitted to unnecessary caesarean section”. The survey was conducted from August 2009 to June 2010 in nine maternity hospitals in the city of Maceió/AL, Brazil: five public, two philanthropic and two private. The sample accounted for 855 puerperals, calculated considering the number of cesarean sections performed in the city of Maceió/AL in 2008 (15.923), and even the occurrence of loss at 5% for not impairing the study, CI = 95%. The selection criterion and approach of the puerperals was not random, they were addressed in the rooming hospitals on average 12 hours after cesarean section. A form with the following variables was used: identification data, socioeconomic data, data on obstetric and prenatal care received by the pregnant women; also it was used clinical, obstetric and pharmacological data collected from medical records and processed by the software Epi Info version 3.2.2, and transported to a computerized database using the Microsoft Excel program. Data were presented and described in absolute numbers and percentages using figures. Data collection was performed after approval of the research project by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) of the Federal University of Alagoas/UFAL under the protocol no. 007929/2009-57 and signing the consent form. Results: it was found that most maternity hospitals performed a quantitative of cesareans higher than that recommended (57.2%) by the World Health Organization and often this choice of parturition is induced by external factors that do not take into account the severity of an unnecessary cesarean section. Conclusion: in order to transform this reality, there must be change in the current practices in the country and women need to be informed about the risk of performing unnecessary cesarean parturition. Descriptors: cesarean; health care; nursing; womans health.