Home Family Practice Post-Cesarean Maternal Infection in 8.8 Percent of C-Sections

Post-Cesarean Maternal Infection in 8.8 Percent of C-Sections

Odds of maternal infection up with black race, non-transverse uterine incision, surgery >49 minutes

THURSDAY, Feb. 9, 2017 (HealthDay News) — For women undergoing cesarean section, 8.8 percent have post-cesarean infection, with pre-incision azithromycin prophylaxis associated with reduced odds of infection, according to research published in the March issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Kim A. Boggess, M.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial involving patients at 24 weeks of gestation or greater who delivered by cesarean after four hours or more of ruptured membranes or labor. A total of 2,013 participants received pre-incision prophylaxis and were randomly allocated to receive azithromycin (1,019 women) or placebo.

The researchers found that 8.8 percent of participants had post-cesarean maternal infection. Compared with the reference group, women of black race-ethnicity, with a non-transverse uterine incision, with duration of membrane rupture greater than six hours, and with surgery duration >49 minutes had increased odds of maternal infection in the final adjusted model after controlling for azithromycin assignment (all with adjusted odds ratios of about 2). The odds of maternal infection were significantly lower with azithromycin (adjusted odds ratio, 0.4).

“Despite pre-incision azithromycin-based extended-spectrum antibiotic prophylaxis, post-cesarean maternal infection remains a significant source of morbidity,” the authors write.

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