Caesarean section, epidural, and forceps intervention rates for low-risk obstetric deliveries.

A retrospective chart audit of 237 consecutive deliveries at a community hospital identified 71.3% as "low risk" at admission for labour and delivery. For this low-risk group, 94.7% were delivered vaginally. The epidural rate was 25.6% and the forceps rate was 20.0% for these vaginal deliveries. This study shows it is possible to identify patients as "low risk" at admission for labour and delivery who can be managed expectantly with a relatively low intervention outcome. The author recommends a consistent definition of low-risk deliveries in all studies of obstetric outcomes to allow for valid comparison. As well, the large differences in outcomes of primiparas and multiparas underline the importance of analyzing these groups separately when comparing results with those of other hospitals or studies.