Prevalence of high-risk pregnancies and the correlation between the method of delivery and the maternal and neonatal outcomes

Pregnancy is a natural process in women's lives, but if a pregnancy becomes high-risk, complications are likely to emerge. One of the risk factors posing a looming threat to pregnancy is delivery via cesarean section (C-section). This study was therefore aimed at investigating the prevalence of high-risk pregnancies and the correlation between delivery methods and the Maternal and Neonatal outcomes in women covered by comprehensive health centers affiliated to Qazvin University of Medical Sciences and Health Services in 2017. This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 200 women covered by comprehensive health centers affiliated to Qazvin University of Medical Sciences from August to December 2017. The sampling was carried out in multiple stages and the data were collected using a questionnaire on individual and midwifery characteristics. In this study, the frequency of high-risk pregnancies was found to be 75.6%, neonatal outcomes amounted to 28.4%, and cesarean delivery constituted 62.9% of total deliveries. The occurrence of preterm child birth was higher in C-section delivery when compared to natural delivery (46.2% in the natural delivery group and 53.8% in the C-section delivery group). The difference in the frequency of maternal and neonatal outcomes between the two groups was significant for maternal outcomes (p = 0.002), but not for neonatal outcomes (p = 0.28). Since natural delivery is the least complicated delivery method for both the mother and her child, necessary measures should be taken to prevent high-risk pregnancy and reduce C-section delivery rate in order to prevent the occurrence of maternal and neonatal outcomes.