What to scale first? A cross-sectional analysis of factors affecting cesarean delivery rates at first referral units in Bihar, India

BACKGROUND: Low rates of caesarean delivery (CD) (<10%) hinder access to a lifesaving procedure for the most vulnerable populations in low-resource settings, but there is a paucity of data regarding which factors contribute most to CD rates. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine caesarean delivery rates at Bihar’s first referral units (FRUs) stratified by facility level (regional, sub-district, district). The secondary aim was to identify facility-level factors associated with caesarean delivery rates. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used open-source national datasets from government FRUs in Bihar, India, from April 2018–March 2019. Multivariate Poisson regression analysed association of infrastructure and workforce factors with CD rates. RESULTS: Of 546,444 deliveries conducted at 149 FRUs, 16961 were CDs, yielding a state-wide FRU CD of 3.1%. There were 67 (45%) regional hospitals, 45 (30%) sub-district hospitals, and 37 (25%) district hospitals. Sixty-one percent of FRUs qualified as having intact infrastructure, 84% had a functioning operating room, but only 7% were LaQshya (Labour Room Quality Improvement Initiative) certified. Considering workforce, 58% had an obstetrician-gynaecologist (range 0–10), 39% had an anaesthetist (range 0–5), and 35% had a provider trained in Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) (range 0–4) through a task-sharing initiative. The majority of regional hospitals lack the essential workforce and infrastructure to perform CDs. Multivariate regression including all FRUs performing deliveries demonstrated that presence of a functioning operating room (IRR = 21.0, 95%CI 7.9–55.8, p < 0.001) and the number of obstetrician-gynaecologists (IRR = 1.3, 95%CI 1.1–1.4, p = 0.001) and EmOCs (IRR = 1.6, 95%CI 1.3–1.9, p < 0.001) were associated with facility-level CD rates. CONCLUSION: Only 3.1% of the institutional childbirths in Bihar’s FRUs were by CD. The presence of a functional operating room, obstetrician, and task-sharing provider (EmOC) was strongly associated with CD. These factors may represent initial investment priorities for scaling up CD rates in Bihar.