Determinants of caesarean section use in Ghana: A trend analysis of 2003–2022 DHS data

Johnson Sam and Christian Kasu

PLOS Global Public Health, 2025, vol. 5, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: The global rise in caesarean section (CS) delivery has raised significant public health concerns, particularly regarding drivers and potential health implications. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends CS rates between 5% and 15%, global averages exceed this range, with regional disparities and medically unjustified procedures contributing to the increase. In Ghana, similar trends are emerging amid infrastructural and referral system limitations, yet limited studies have used nationally representative data to track changes over time. This study used data from the 2003, 2008, 2014, and 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys (GDHS) to examine trends and determinants of CS among women aged 15–49 years who had a live birth in the five years preceding the survey. Weighted descriptive statistics and multilevel logistic regression were employed to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for predictors, accounting for the complex survey design. Key variables included survey year, antenatal care (ANC) attendance, maternal education, household wealth, birth size, multiple births, maternal age, and birth order. CS prevalence rose from 4.4% in 2003 to 20.1% in 2022 (p

Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/artic ... journal.pgph.0005473 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/artic ... 05473&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pgph00:0005473

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0005473

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Global Public Health from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by globalpubhealth ().