Effect of overweight/obesity on caesarean section occurrence among reproductive-aged women in Ethiopia: a secondary data analysis

BACKGROUND: The burden of overweight/obesity increased worldwide and it has unpredictable effect on maternal morbidity and mortality. Different adverse perinatal outcomes observed in overweight/obese women, of those caesarean section occurred frequently. In Ethiopia, the national caesarean section and overweight/obesity rate among reproductive-aged women increased tremendously. Therefore, we intend to assess the association between overweight/obesity with caesarean section in Ethiopia. METHOD: The data were extracted from the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey in nine regions and two city administrations. A stratified two-stage random sampling design was used to collect data. The exposure variable was overweight/obesity, and the outcome variable was a caesarean section. The final analytical sample consisted of 6928 participants. SPSS V.23 was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation were performed to describe the study variables. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were regressed. RESULTS: The prevalence of caesarean section among women aged between 15–49 years old who gave birth in the last 5 years was 245 (3.54%). The occurrence of caesarean section among overweight/obese women was 2.05 higher as compared with normal-weight women (AOR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.09 - 3.83). CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Promoting weight reduction programmes throughout the country would have a greater contribution to reduce caesarean section rate and health cost, and to improve the health of the mother.