The comparison of serum interleukin-6 of mothers in vaginal and elective cesarean delivery

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has a major role in hematopoiesis, immune and acute phase response and seemed that it had influence on the mode of delivery. The purpose of this study was to compare the level of IL-6 in mothers who delivered via cesarean section and vaginally. This cross-sectional study was done on 40 mothers with vaginal delivery and 40 mothers in elective cesarean delivery in 2012 in Ayatollah Rouhani Teaching Hospital in Babol, northern Iran. Five ml blood samples were taken from each mother. Blood samples were examined by enzyme-immune assay for the determination of IL-6 in both neonates. Other information, such as the mother's age, the newborn sex, gravity, parity, the number of live births of each mother, and the status of infants in terms of being term or pre-term, was recorded. The mean age of cesarean section and vaginal delivery patients was (29±5.01) yrs and (27.3± 4.93) yrs. The maternal IL-6 concentration in vaginal birth (170.13 ±15.9) was significantly (p<0.05 (higher than cesarean section (33±29.94) The result shows that serum IL-6 levels in patients with vaginal delivery was higher than those with elective cesarean section delivery. So, we recommend that vaginal delivery should be performed for all patients except for those whom vaginal delivery is contraindicated contraindicated.