Cesarean Section Tied to Increased Risk of Stillbirth, Ectopic Pregnancy in Future

Women who undergo Cesarean section are at a slightly higher risk of subsequent stillbirth or an ectopic pregnancy, a new study suggests.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University College Cork, Ireland and Aarhus University, Denmark.

C-section rates have increased by 60 percent between 1996 and 2009 from 20.7 percent of total births to 32.9 percent, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Recent research has shown that babies born via C-section have increased risk of allergies and obesity later in life, Medical News Today reports.

Data for the current study came from 832,996 women from Danish national registers.

Researchers looked at the birth information of the participants' first child such as whether or not the baby was delivered via a C-section.

The women were followed until the next delivery, where researchers looked at the rates of pregnancy complications such as stillbirth or ectopic pregnancy. The team used statistical modelling to estimate the rate of pregnancy complications if the women had normal delivery instead of C-sections.

The team found that C-section was tied to a 14 percent increased rate of stillbirth in the next pregnancy and nine percent increased rate of ectopic pregnancy, according to a news release.

Researchers controlled for the possibility that C-section might have been performed due to an underlying problem.

The team reassures women that the risk of actually having a stillbirth or an ectopic pregnancy following a C-section is low.

"The findings of the current study are particularly important for expectant mothers as well as healthcare professionals as Caesarean section rates are increasing significantly worldwide. Whilst we showed that a previous Caesarean section is associated with a subsequent stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy, the overall risk of either is very low," said Louise Kenny and colleagues from the University College Cork.

The study was published in the journal PLOS medicine.