The decision to delivery interval in emergency and non-urgent cesarean sections

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the decision to delivery interval (DDI) in our obstetric unit in comparison to current recommendations. Study, design: A retrospective analysis of all non-elective cesarean sections during a 10 months period in a delivery ward of a university tertiary health care facility was performed. The DDI was compared between emergency and non-urgent cesarean sections. Results: The DDI was 25.8 +/- 10.8 and 46.2 +/- 19.9 min in the emergency and non-urgent cesareans, respectively (P < 0.01). In the emergency group, 71% delivered within 30 min compared to 35% in the non-urgent group (P < 0.05) and in the emergent-crash group 100% delivered within 30 min compared to 59% in the emergent-non-crash group (P < 0.05). No correlation was found between the DDI and umbilical artery pH or Apgar score at 1 or 5 min in infants of each cesarean group. Conclusion: The proposed 30 min DDI standard was achieved in 100, 71, 47 and 35% of emergent-crash, emergent, emergent-non-crash and non-urgent cesareans sections, respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.