Prevalence and Determinants of Cesarean Delivery among Married Women in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh

This study investigated the prevalence and determinants of caesarean section (CS) delivery among married women in selected coastal areas of Bangladesh. A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in two villages of Bagerhat and Khulna districts. Data were collected from 400 married women of at least one child under five years through simple random sampling. Findings depicted that the prevalence of CS delivery was 37.3%. Multivariate analysis revealed husband’s education and place of delivery were the significant determinants of CS delivery. Married women whose husbands had primary education (AOR = 0.019; 95% CI: 0.001-0.529; p = 0.020) and those who delivered at home had significantly lower odds of CS delivery (AOR = 0.002; 95% CI: 0.000-0.030; p < 0.001) compared to those whose husbands were non-literate and those delivered at hospital or clinics. Based on the findings, the study recommends engaging husbands particularly by improving male educational attainment to reduce unnecessary CS deliveries. Besides, at the health-system level, it calls for targeted institutional policies and the implementation of rigorous clinical audit mechanism to monitor indications and promote evidence-based obstetric practice.