Planned elective cesarean section at term: Indications and neonatal prognosis

Introduction: The practice of planned elective cesarean sections (ECS) in the near-term pregnant woman is often perceived as an act ensuring maximum safety for the mother and her child. However, in terms of morbidity and maternal-fetal mortality, Cesarean section is worse than a vaginal delivery.
Materials and methods: Our work is a prospective, comparative study of planned elective cesarean sections performed in our institution.
Results: The prevalence of neonatal hospital admissions was 24.6% in the case of a planned elective cesarean section and 17.8% in the case of an emergency caesarean section, compared to 19.9% in the case of vaginal delivery. The transfer to neonatology department for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) concerns 21.8% of births per planned cesarean section, 12.3% of emergency cesarean births, and 11.5% of vaginal delivery.
Conclusion: The rate of respiratory distress syndrome due to alveolar fluid resorption disorder is greater when the child is born by elective cesarean section than when he was born by emergent cesarean section or through vaginal delivery. While the rate of perinatal asphyxia is reduced in the event of an elective cesarean section.