Prior Cesarean Increases Risk Of Uterine Rupture During Vaginal Labor.

2001 AUG 9 - (NewsRx Network) -- Women who've had a cesarean and who later attempt to deliver by vaginal labor are more likely to suffer a uterine rupture than women who go on to have a repeat cesarean delivery without labor.

University of Washington (UW) researchers published results of their study on uterine rupture in the July 5, 2001, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Uterine rupture is an uncommon, but serious, obstetrical condition that may result in hysterectomy, urologic injury, or a need for blood transfusion for the mother, and neurologic impairment in the infant.

The study was done by Dr. Mona Lydon-Rochelle, senior research fellow in the Department of Family and Child Nursing in the School of Nursing and her colleagues Dr. Victoria L. Holt, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine; Dr. Thomas R. Easterling, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology of the School of Medicine; and Dr. Diane P. Martin, professor in the Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, all at the University of Washington.

The researchers used data from the delivery records of 20,095 mothers who delivered single, live infants in Washington state from 1987 through 1996 and also delivered a second single infant during the same time period. They found that a total of 91 women had a uterine rupture during the second birth. Women with a spontaneous onset of labor were 3.3 times more likely to have a uterine rupture than women who had a repeat cesarean delivery without labor. Women with non-prostaglandin induction of labor were nearly five times more likely to have a uterine rupture and women with prostaglandin induction were 15 times more likely to have a uterine rupture than women who had repeat cesarean deliveries without labor.

"These associations are most ...