A new computer program could help reduce the number of caesarean sections by 4000 a year.
Researchers from the Universities of Dundee and Bristol have found that women who had previously had a caesarean were less likely to have another if their choice was aided by the detailed program. The team looked at 742 women, all of whom had already had one caesarean delivery, and split them into three groups.
The women received information on further caesareans either through traditional care, or using a computer-based information programme telling them the risks and likely outcomes of different delivery methods, or the more detailed "decisions-analysis system".
The detailed system analysed what values the women had on the different delivery methods available, then suggested a 'preferred option' based on their answers.
Thirty seven per cent of these women went on to have a normal vaginal delivery, compared with 30 per cent of the women who had traditional care, and 29 per cent of those who used the less detailed computer program.
Professor James Walker of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said;
"It is very important to get information to women to help them to make a decision, so anything that improves their ability to get that information is a benefit."
The number of caesareans in the UK are rising steeply, from 9 per cent of births in 1980 to a massive 23 per cent now.
June 2007
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