Walter J. Hannah

Planned caesarean section versus planned vaginal birth for breech presentation at term: a randomised multicentre trial

BACKGROUND For 3-4% of pregnancies, the fetus will be in the breech presentation at term. For most of these women, the approach to delivery is controversial. We did a randomised trial to compare a policy of planned caesarean section with a policy of planned vaginal birth for selected breech-presentation pregnancies. METHODS At 121 centres in 26 countries, 2088 women with a singleton fetus in a frank or complete breech presentation were randomly assigned planned caesarean section or planned vaginal birth. Women having a vaginal breech delivery had an experienced clinician at the birth. Mothers and infants were followed-up to 6 weeks post partum. The primary outcomes were perinatal mortality, neonatal mortality, or serious neonatal morbidity; and maternal mortality or serious maternal morbidity. Analysis was by intention to treat. FINDINGS Data were received for 2083 women. Of the 1041 women assigned planned caesarean section, 941 (90.4%) were delivered by caesarean section. Of the 1042 women assigned planned vaginal birth, 591 (56.7%) delivered vaginally. Perinatal mortality, neonatal mortality, or serious neonatal morbidity was significantly lower for the planned caesarean section group than for the planned vaginal birth group (17 of 1039 [1.6%] vs 52 of 1039 [5.0%]; relative risk 0.33 [95% CI 0.19-0.56]; p<0.0001). There were no differences between groups in terms of maternal mortality or serious maternal morbidity (41 of 1041 [3.9%] vs 33 of 1042 [3.2%]; 1.24 [0.79-1.95]; p=0.35). INTERPRETATION Planned caesarean section is better than planned vaginal birth for the term fetus in the breech presentation; serious maternal complications are similar between the groups.

Do practice guidelines guide practice? The effect of a consensus statement on the practice of physicians.

Guidelines for medical practice can contribute to improved care only if they succeed in moving actual practice closer to the behaviors the guidelines recommend. To assess the effect of such guidelines, we surveyed hospitals and obstetricians in Ontario before and after the release of a widely distributed and nationally endorsed consensus statement recommending decreases in the use of cesarean sections. These surveys, along with discharge data from hospitals reflecting actual practice, revealed that most obstetricians (87 to 94 percent) were aware of the guidelines and that most (82.5 to 85 percent) agreed with them. Attitudes toward the use of cesarean section were congruent with the recommendations even before their release. One third of the hospitals and obstetricians reported changing their practice as a consequence of the guidelines, and obstetricians reported rates of cesarean section in women with a previous cesarean section that were significantly reduced, in keeping with the recommendations (from 72.2 percent to 61.1 percent; P less than 0.01). The surveys also showed, however, that knowledge of the content of the recommendations was poor (67 percent correct responses). Furthermore, data on actual practice after the publication of the guidelines showed that the rates of cesarean section were 15 to 49 percent higher than the rates reported by obstetricians, and they showed only a slight change from the previous upward trend. We conclude that guidelines for practice may predispose physicians to consider changing their behavior, but that unless there are other incentives or the removal of disincentives, guidelines may be unlikely to effect rapid change in actual practice. We believe that incentives should operate at the local level, although they may include system-wide economic changes.

Factors associated with adverse perinatal outcome in the Term Breech Trial

BACKGROUND In the Term Breech Trial, the risk of adverse perinatal outcome was lower with planned cesarean section versus planned vaginal birth. We undertook secondary analyses to determine factors associated with adverse perinatal outcome. STUDY DESIGN By using multiple logistic regression analyses, we determined the effect of prelabor cesarean section, cesarean section during early labor, cesarean section during active labor versus vaginal birth, and other factors, on adverse perinatal outcome. For 1384 fetuses delivered after labor, we determined the effect of variables associated with labor on adverse perinatal outcome. RESULTS The risk of adverse perinatal outcome was lowest with prelabor cesarean section (odds ratio [OR]=0.13) and highest with vaginal birth. For those delivered after labor, labor augmentation (P=.007), birth weight less than 2.8 kg (P=.003), and longer time between pushing and delivery (P<.001) increased the risk, whereas the presence of an experienced clinician at delivery (P=.004) reduced the risk of adverse perinatal outcome. CONCLUSION Breech infants at term are best delivered by prelabor cesarean section.

Planned caesarean section decreases the risk of adverse perinatal outcome due to both labour and delivery complications in the Term Breech Trial

Objective  To determine if the decreased risk of adverse perinatal outcome, with a policy of planned caesarean, in the Term Breech Trial, was due to a reduction of problems of labour, problems of delivery or unrelated problems.

The costs of planned cesarean versus planned vaginal birth in the Term Breech Trial

Background: The Term Breech Trial compared the safety of planned cesarean and planned vaginal birth for breech presentations at term. The combined outcome of perinatal or neonatal death and serious neonatal morbidity was found to be significantly lower among babies delivered by planned cesarean section. In this study we conducted a cost analysis of the 2 approaches to breech presentations at delivery. Methods: We used a third-party–payer (i.e., Ministry of Health) perspective. We included all costs for physician services and all hospital-related costs incurred by both the mother and the infant. We collected health care utilization and outcomes for all study participants during the trial. We used only the utilization data from countries with low national rates of perinatal death (≤ 20/1000). Seven hospitals across Canada (4 teaching and 3 community centres) were selected for unit cost calculations. Results: The estimated mean cost of a planned cesarean was significantly lower than that of a planned vaginal birth (

Obstetrical attitudes and practices before and after the Canadian consensus conference statement on cesarean birth

7165 v.

Factors Associated with Maternal Morbidity in the Term Breech Trial

8042 per mother and infant; mean difference –

Avoiding asphyxia during vaginal breech delivery.

877, 95% credible interval –

Outcomes at 3 Months After Planned Cesarean vs Planned Vaginal Delivery for Breech Presentation at Term: The International Randomized Term Breech Trial

1286 to –

Induction of Labour: Post-term Pregnancy and Term Prelabour Rupture of the Membranes—Evidence for Practice

473). The estimated mean cost of a planned cesarean was lower than that of a planned vaginal birth for both women having a first birth (