Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 15;4(1):111-114.
doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2020-000121. eCollection 2021.

Effect of overweight/obesity on caesarean section occurrence among reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia: a secondary data analysis

Melese Linger Endalifer  1 , Gedefaw Diress  1 , Hunegnaw Almaw  2 , Bedilu Linger Endalifer  3
Affiliations

Effect of overweight/obesity on caesarean section occurrence among reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia: a secondary data analysis

Melese Linger Endalifer et al. BMJ Nutr Prev Health. .

Abstract

Background: The burden of overweight/obesity increased worldwide and it has unpredictable effect on maternal morbidity and mortality. Different adverse perinatal outcomes observed in overweight/obese women, of those caesarean section occurred frequently. In Ethiopia, the national caesarean section and overweight/obesity rate among reproductive-aged women increased tremendously. Therefore, we intend to assess the association between overweight/obesity with caesarean section in Ethiopia.

Method: The data were extracted from the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey in nine regions and two city administrations. A stratified two-stage random sampling design was used to collect data. The exposure variable was overweight/obesity, and the outcome variable was a caesarean section. The final analytical sample consisted of 6928 participants. SPSS V.23 was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation were performed to describe the study variables. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were regressed.

Results: The prevalence of caesarean section among women aged between 15-49 years old who gave birth in the last 5 years was 245 (3.54%). The occurrence of caesarean section among overweight/obese women was 2.05 higher as compared with normal-weight women (AOR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.09 - 3.83).

Conclusion and recommendation: Promoting weight reduction programmes throughout the country would have a greater contribution to reduce caesarean section rate and health cost, and to improve the health of the mother.

Keywords: malnutrition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Government Q . Queensland clinical guidelines. obesity in pregnancy, 2015.
    1. Boerma T, Ronsmans C, Melesse DY, et al. . Global epidemiology of use of and disparities in caesarean sections. Lancet 2018;392:1341–8. 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31928-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Organization WH . Monitoring emergency obstetric care. WHO Press, 2009.
    1. Yisma E, Smithers LG, Lynch JW, et al. . Cesarean section in Ethiopia: prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 2019;32:1130–5. 10.1080/14767058.2017.1401606 - DOI - PubMed
    1. CSA and ICF . EDHS Ethiopia demographic and health survey 2016 (report No.: 1471-2458 contract No.: 1). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: CSA and ICF, 2016.

LinkOut - more resources