Abstract

Background: Pregnancy and parturition are events of considerable significance in the life cycle of women. Though it is supposed that the quality of care during labor, birth, and postpartum period plays a great role for adverse outcomes of birth, various reports claimed that cesarean section (CS) carries a higher maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality compared to vaginal delivery. Therefore, this study assessed the rate of cesarean section, maternal and fetal outcomes of cesarean section at Finoteselam hospital, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: Hospital based two-year retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted from March to May 2015 in Finoteselam hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 250 mothers who delivered by cesarean section from September 2013 to December 2015 and have completed data were included in the study. Data were extracted using structured data collection format and cleaned, and entered into EPI info software version 3.5.3 and transferred into SPSS version 20 for further descriptive analysis. Result: Among 2267deliveriesin the two years of retrospective data, a total of 250 mothers were delivered by cesarean section, giving cesarean section rate 11%. The leading indication for cesarean section was fetal distress (24.8%). Among the total cesarean section deliveries, 42neonates were died, giving the proportion of neonate mortality rate 16.8%.Three mothers were died following cesarean section delivery, giving maternal mortality rate following cesarean section delivery 12 per 1000 live births. Conclusion: However, cesarean section rate in this study was within the WHO recommended range, the health outcome of mothers and neonates#x2019; following cesarean section was not acceptable. The neonatal and maternal mortality following cesarean section deliveries was 16.8% and12 per 1000 live births respectively. The main cause of neonatal death was birth asphyxia.