Table 1 Characteristics of patients admitted for Caesarian section surgery in New Brunswick (April 2004 – March 2014)
Characteristic | Lower-volume hospitals (n = 9) | Higher-volume hospitals (n = 4) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Number of admissions | 6096 | 14,818 | 20,914 |
Mean maternal age | 29 | 30 | 29 |
Admission status (% of admissions) | |||
Elective | 91.9 | 88.4 | 89.4 |
Urgent | 8.1 | 11.6 | 10.6 |
Comorbidity (% of admissions) | |||
None (0) | 53.3 | 52.5 | 52.7 |
Mild (1, 2) | 7.9 | 9.7 | 9.2 |
Moderate to severe (3, 4) | 1.2 | 2.3 | 2.0 |
Missing / not applicable | 37.6 | 35.6 | 36.1 |
Diabetes in pregnancy (% of admissions) | |||
Diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes | 8.8 | 7.5 | 7.9 |
Community size classification (% of admissions) | |||
City (population 100,000 – 499,999) | 0.2 | 50.2 | 35.6 |
Small town (population 10,000-99,999) | 41.2 | 20.9 | 26.8 |
Rural area (population < 10,000) | 58.6 | 28.9 | 37.5 |
Neighbourhood income quintile (% of admissions) | |||
Lowest | 25.1 | 19.4 | 21.1 |
medium-low | 21.7 | 18.8 | 19.6 |
Middle | 19.9 | 19.3 | 19.5 |
Medium-high | 17.4 | 19.9 | 19.1 |
Highest | 15.7 | 22.6 | 20.6 |
Unknown | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Physician years since graduation (% of admissions) | |||
0–9 | 7.0 | 21.4 | 17.2 |
10–19 | 30.9 | 38.2 | 36.1 |
20+ | 62.1 | 40.4 | 46.7 |
Physician specialization (% of admissions) | |||
Maternal-fetal or obstetrics & gynecology | 82.2 | 99.8 | 94.6 |
All other specializations | 17.8 | 0.2 | 5.4 |
Physician C-section annual volume (% of admissions) | |||
1–24 | 34.9 | 18.1 | 23.0 |
25–49 | 43.4 | 28.7 | 33.0 |
50–74 | 18.4 | 35.6 | 30.6 |
75–120 | 3.2 | 17.5 | 13.4 |
Maternal postoperative outcomes (% of admissions) | |||
Presence of complications | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.6 |