Table 2.
Descriptive characteristics of the participants by pregnancy proposed BMI category
| Underweight | Normal weight | Overweight | Obese | Super-obese | |
| Mean (SD) and range/n (%) | n=79 | n=570 | n=395 | n=337 | n=76 |
| Total theatre time (min) | 69 (18.7) 34.0–120.0 |
72 (17.4) 36.0–156.0 |
77 (17.9) 35.0–150.0 |
80 (20.1) 40.0–165.0 |
92 (23.5) 49.0–157.0 |
| Surgical time (min) | 44 (13.2) 23.0–75.0 |
45 (13.9) 20.0–126.0 | 48 (14.4) 20.0–115.0 | 50 (14.8) 20.0–115.0 | 54 (15.1) 32.0–111.0 |
| Anaesthesia time (min) | 26 (11.2) 9.0–50.0 | 27 (10.8) 5.0–104.0 | 28 (11.3) 0.0–84.0 | 29 (12.3) 3.0–113.0 | 38 (17.9) 0.0–107.0 |
| BMI at delivery (kg/m2) | 22 (1.5) 17.0–23.4 |
27 (1.8) 23.5–30.0 |
32 (1.4) 30.0–34.9 |
39 (2.9) 35.0–45.0 |
50 (4.4) 45.1–66.2 |
| Age at delivery (years) | 30 (4.7) 20.0–43.3 |
32 (5.1) 18.0–50.0 |
32 (5.0) 19.0–48.0 |
32 (5.5) 19.0–46.0 |
31 (5.5) 20.0–44.0 |
| Gestation at delivery (weeks) | 38 (2.7) 25.0–41.0 |
39 (2.2) 25.0–42.0 |
39 (1.9) 26.0–42.0 |
39 (2.0) 27.0–42.0 |
38 (2.0) 31.0–40.0 |
| Multiple pregnancy | 4 (5.1%) | 33 (5.8%) | 18 (4.6%) | 11 (3.3%) | 2 (2.6%) |
| Pre-eclampsia | 0 (0.0%) | 16 (2.8%) | 18 (4.6%) | 17 (5.0%) | 11 (14.5%) |
| Caesarean section urgency* | |||||
| Category 1 | 4 (5.1%) | 58 (10.2%) | 27 (6.8%) | 26 (7.7%) | 1 (1.3%) |
| Category 2 | 27 (34.2%) | 171 (30.0%) | 116 (29.4%) | 101 (30.0%) | 18 (23.7%) |
| Category 3 | 16 (20.3%) | 91 (16.0%) | 73 (18.5%) | 63 (18.7%) | 18 (23.7%) |
| Category 4 | 32 (40.5%) | 250 (43.9%) | 179 (45.3%) | 147 (43.6%) | 39 (51.3%) |
| Previous caesarean section | 33 (41.8%) | 226 (39.7%) | 168 (42.5%) | 174 (51.6%) | 37 (48.7%) |
| Mother admitted to ICU | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.2%) | 4 (1.0%) | 5 (1.5%) | 1 (1.3%) |
| Mother received transfusion | 1 (5.0%) | 4 (20.0%) | 10 (50.0%) | 5 (25.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Mother returned to OR | 1 (11.1%) | 4 (44.4%) | 2 (22.2%) | 2 (22.2%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| NICU | 4 (5.1%) | 28 (4.9%) | 15 (3.8%) | 10 (3.0%) | 3 (3.9%) |
| Special care | 16 (20.3%) | 82 (14.4%) | 50 (12.7%) | 65 (19.3%) | 14 (18.4%) |
*Percentages are calculated from the the number of women in each caesarean section per total number of women in BMI category.
BMI, body mass index; ICU, intensive care unit; NICU, neonatal intensive care unit.