J Korean Community Nurs.  2000 Dec;11(2):499-512.

A Study on the Effect of Physician Characteristics on the Cesarean Section Rate

• Cho EH

Abstract

The number of deliveries by cesarean section has increased internationally. However, The cesarean section rate is different by country to country. It is because each country has different social and cultural background and. practices its unique delivery policies. Hence, it is very important to understand the uniqueness that one country faces related with the cesarean section. In Korea, there have been many researches on the clinical. maternal. hospital and community factors and so on. However, few studies have attempted to reveal the physician factors in Korea because it is difficult to approach hospital records. So, in this study, the physician factors that influence the increase of cesarean section rate in Korea was investigated, and preliminary research agenda for policy establishment to keep the cesarean section rate from excessive increase was provided. In this study, all 2744 cesarean section deliveries performed by 36 physicians at the hospital was considered. and detailed delivery records of 12 months selected randomly from January 1996 to August 1998 was reviewed retrospectively. Chi-square analysis is used to examine the homogeneity of distribution of maternal, fetal, and clinical factors. In addition, multiple regression analysis is used to examine the effect of physician characteristics on the cesarean section rate. Physician characteristics as independent variable and the cesarean section rate as dependent variable was put in this analysis. Follows are the results of this study. 1) Total cesarean section rate is 34.8%. primary cesarean section rate is 12.5 % and repeated cesarean section rate is 22.3 %. Among the indications for the primary cesarean section, 15.6 % is for breech presentation. 40.2 % is for dystocia. 7.6 % is for fetal distress. and 36.6 % is for others. 2) There is positive correlation between physician's age and the cesarean section rate (p<0.001). And statistically significant correlation is found between the physician's educational attainment and the cesarean section rate (p<0.001). A physician with Ph.D degree has lower cesarean section rate than a physician with B.A only and M.A. degree (p<0.001). However. physician's gender, location of graduated university. position at the hospital, and the religious belief were not shown statistically significant relations with the cesarean section rate. 3) Among all cesarean sections in this study, only 15.4 % is performed during weekend. While 18.2 % is performed on monday only. This suggests that physicians may not prefer weekend operation of cesarean section. In addition, 86.1 % among all cesarean section operations is performed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. So the cesarean section rate could be related with a day of the week and a time of the day. From this results. there is a possibility that the physicians' personal comfort may influence the cesarean section rate.

MeSH Terms

Breech Presentation
Cesarean Section*
Dystocia
Female
Fetal Distress
Hospital Records
Humans
Korea
Pregnancy
Religion
Retrospective Studies