Is vaginal birth after cesarean safe? Experience at a community hospital

OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of promoting a trial of labor after prior cesarean birth in a community hospital. STUDY DESIGN: A 4-year prospective cohort study was conducted of all patien ts who had prior cesarean births (N = 1481). A comparison of outcomes was p erformed between those who elected repeat cesarean delivery (n = 727) and t hose who attempted a trial of labor after previous cesarean(s) (n = 754). RESULTS: We found that the vaginal birth after cesarean attempt rate was 50 .9% and declined significantly during the last 2 years of the study. The el ective repeat cesarean rate was 49.1% and increased significantly during th e last 2 years of the study. In addition, we found that neonatal outcomes w ere similar, with the exception of 2 neonatal deaths caused by uterine rupt ure. Twelve uterine ruptures occurred (1.6%), and 11 of the 12 ruptures inv olved either induction or augmentation of labor, or both. CONCLUSIONS: A trial of vaginal birth after cesarean is safe provided that induction of labor is not used. The uterine rupture rate of 1.6% is higher than reported in the literature; this may reflect underreporting by communi ty hospitals.