Prevalence of Caesarian Section and Associated Factors at Chawama First Level Hospital, in Lusaka Urban District, Zambia

Introduction: Caesarean section (C-section) is a major obstetric life-saving intervention for the prevention of pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. The goal of Caesarean section is to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes leading to reduced maternal and neonatal deaths. Globally C-section is increasing, as well as in in Zambia. This study identifies the prevalence of C-section and bio-demographic, socioeconomic, health care seeking and socio-culture factors of C-section among women at Chawama First Level Hospital in Zambia. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Data was collected from 219 participants who were randomly selected for interviews using a systematic sampling method. A semi-structured interview questionnaire and a checklist were used to collect data from the respondents. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20 computer software statistical package. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were performed to determine association between the dependent and independent variables. The level of significance was set at 0.05 with 95% confidence interval. Results: The study shows a significant association between having a cesarean section and the age of the respondents as seen from the p-value of 0.309. Women aged 25 - 29 were 3.448 times more likely to deliver through the caesarian section, while those aged 30 - 34 were 3.692 times more likely to deliver through the caesarian section. In this study, maternal education was significantly associated with C/S with the p-value of 0.006c. This study also showed a significant association between maternal income and C/S with the p-value of 0.014. In this study, mothers who had ANC follow-up three times were 5.17 times. Similarly, those women who had ANC visit of four were 4.49 times more likely to have cesareans section compared with mothers who had one ANC visit. The current study showed a significant association between birth weight and C/S with the p-value of 0.002c. The study showed a significant association between C/S and parity. Primipara were more likely to have C/S compared to multipara women. Women with high income were 2.494 times more likely to deliver through the caesarian section as opposed to those with low income. Women aged 25 - 29 were 3.448 times more likely to deliver through the caesarian section, while those aged 30 - 34 were 3.692 times more likely to deliver through the caesarian section. Births that involved big babies were 5.022 times more likely to be caesarian section deliveries as opposed to small and normal babies. Normal birth weight babies showed odds of caesarian section delivery to at 2.334. Primipara women were 1.431 times more likely to give birth through the caesarian section as opposed to multipara women. Conclusion: The prevalence of cesarean section was high and the predictors of cesarean section were Age, maternal education, Parity Income and Birth weight.