Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109969

Soussan Parsay, PhD, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Evin, Tehran, Iran, (98)(21)895-9277, shizarnahidi@yahoo.com and Farnaz Vahidnia, MD, MPH, Bixby Program in Family Planning, Maternal Health, and Reproductive Health, University of California at Berkeley, 1213 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-1690.

We conducted a prospective analytic study to measure quality of life of mothers using the “childbirth-related quality of life profile”. The questionnaire is a 30–item scale with 8 subscales measuring quality of life. A high score reflects a better quality of life. 100 mothers aged 20-40 from 5 health centers in Esfahan, Iran were grouped into two groups with normal vaginal delivery (NVD) or cesarean section (C/S) and followed during 6-8 weeks and 12-14 weeks after childbirth. Women were matched according to age, education, occupation, economic status, body mass index, wanted or unwanted pregnancy, and child's sex. Results: NVD group had significantly higher scores on “feelings towards her child” (p=0.00), “effect of childbirth on economic status” (p=0.03), and lower scores on “feelings towards herself” (p=0.01) during 12-14 weeks after childbirth compared to 6-8 weeks. Comparison of the two group's scores showed that NVD group had significantly higher scores on “feelings towards herself” (p=0.01) during 6-8 weeks childbirth and on “physical health” (p=0.01) and “effect of childbirth on economic status” (p=0.01) during 12-14 weeks. In addition, C/S group had significantly more severe “back pain” (p=0.04) during 6-8 weeks and “constipation” (p=0.01) at both 6-8 and 12-18 weeks compared to NVD group. Conclusion: NVDs result in a better postnatal quality of life than C/S deliveries on some subscales. When there is no medical indication for C/S health care providers should consider NVD as the first choice to avoid elective C/S, which will lead to higher incidence of surgical intervention and hospitalization.

Learning Objectives:

• The purpose of this study is to assess and compare the postnatal quality of life after normal vaginal delivery and cesarean section.

Keywords: Perinatal Health, Quality of Life

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.