A Case Control Study to Evaluate the Association between Primary Cesarean Section for Dystocia and Vitamin D Deficiency

Abstract

Background: Milder forms of vitamin D deficiency could be responsible for poor muscular performance causing dysfunctional labor. The aim of our research was to study the association between vitamin D deficiency and primary cesarean section. Materials and Methods: This was a case control study. Forty six women who delivered by primary cesarean section with dystocia as primary or secondary indication after 37 weeks of gestation were taken as cases and a similar number of women who delivered vaginally were taken as controls. Vitamin D deficiency was diagnosed when the serum 25(OH)D level was ≤20 ng/ml and this was compared between cases and controls. Results: Median serum (OH) vitamin D levels was 23.3ng/ml among women who delivered by cesarean section and 26.2ng/ ml among controls (p=0.196). Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups except for a strong association between Body Mass Index (BMI) and cesarean section, (29.7kg/m2 in cases and 25.9kg/m2 in controls p=0.001) seen in multivariate analysis. Vitamin D deficiency was seen in 34.8% of cases and 21.7% of controls (p=0.165). Conclusion: This small case control study did not show a significant association between vitamin D deficiency and primary cesarean section.

Keywords

• dystocia
• failure to progress