Comparative Study of Postpartum Quality of Life between Patients Having Normal Vaginal Delivery and Cesarean Section - การศึกษาเปรียบเทียบคุณภาพชีวิตหญิงหลังคลอด ระหว่างการคลอดปกติทางช่องคลอดกับการผ่าตัดคลอด

บทคัดย่อ

        The global cesarean section rate trends to be continually increased but the cesarean section (C/S) still has negative effect to both mothers and babies. This research therefore had the objectives to investigate and compare the postpartum quality of life between patients having normal vaginal delivery and cesarean section. This research was a prospective cohort study consisted of 228 postpartum patients of the Postpartum Care Unit, Siriraj Hospital, who were divided into three groups, 76 samples per group, based on their delivery method: (1) normal vaginal delivery, (2) elective C/S, and (3) emergency C/S. The data were collected during June – December 2013 using the Maternal Postpartum Quality of Life (MAPP-QOL) as the research instrument whereas the patients were interviewed on the second day and during 4-6 weeks after the delivery. Among the 228 samples, 176 patients were completely interviewed in the 4-6 weeks after their delivery, and the number in each group was 59, 58 and 59, respectively. It was found that the MAPP-QOL (overall) and domains scores of the patients having the normal vaginal delivery were higher than those with the elective C/S, and emergency C/S (mean (MAPP-QOL (overall)) = 24.0:22.7:22.4) with the statistical significance of p<0.05. In details, patients who had normal vaginal delivery were higher than those with emergency C/S in terms of the spouse/partner relationship (mean±SD=24.3±3.8:22.9±3.5), and health and function (mean±SD=22.4±3.8:18.7±5.2), while during 4-6 weeks after the delivery, the economy and society (mean±SD= 25.9±2.3:24.9±2.4), and spouse/partner relationship (mean±SD=26.5±2.8:25.6±2.8), respectively. The author suggested that although the postpartum quality of life scores in this research might not be much different, it was still obviously seen that delivery methods totally affected the postpartum quality of life of the patients. So, medical staffs should provide their patients with proper knowledge on the benefits and advantages of the normal vaginal delivery and the cesarean section so that the patients could make their best decision.
Key words: postpartum, quality of life, normal vaginal delivery, cesarean section