Table 2.

Population-weighted estimates of the reason for administering general anaesthesia

	Czech Republic		Slovakia
	Elective CS	Emergency CS	Elective CS	Emergency CS
	N = 225*	N = 508*	N = 173**	N = 237**
Urgency	0.4% (0.4–0.4)	70.2% (67.3–73.0)	6.1% (2.3–9.9)	85.5% (80.9–90.2)
Maternal preference	62.9% (57.8–68.0)	14.4% (12.2–16.6)	60.8% (53.6–68.1)	6.4% (3.0–9.7)
LMWH applied	3.1% (0.8–5.4)	1.1% (0.4–1.9)	0.7% (0.2–1.1)	1.9% (0.0–3.9)
Bleeding complications	1.1% (0.0–2.8)	1.8% (0.8–2.9)	2.3% (0.1–4.5)	1.4% (0.0–2.9)
Failure of neuraxial blockade	14.5% (11.4–17.6)	4.9% (4.2–5.5)	15.9% (10.6–21.2)	2.8% (0.5–5.1)
Placentation disorder	1.3% (0.8–1.6)	2.1% (1.0–3.1)	0.0%	0.0%
Other	16.6% (12.7–20.6)	5.6% (4.3–6.9)	14.2% (9.0–19.4)	1.9% (0.4–3.4)

Data are given as percentages (95% CI). National numbers of caesarean deliveries were derived from official statistics of the Institute of Health Information of the Czech Republic (*) and the National Health Care Information Centre of Slovakia (**). Identical confidence interval limits indicate zero sampling variance in strata with 100% participation after finite population correction. Emergency caesarean deliveries include urgency categories 1–3 according to the widely used Lucas classification [10]. CS caesarean section, LMWH low molecular weight heparin