Objectives:

To determine the proportion of successful vaginal deliveries in women with prior cesarean section; to describe maternal and perinatal complications; and to examine the factors associated with vaginal delivery.

Material and methods:

Descriptive cross-sectional study of women with a history of cesarean delivery, gestational age of more than 24 weeks, singleton live fetuses, with prior vaginal delivery who received care in a high complexity public institution in 2019. Patients with a history of more than one cesarean section or myomectomy were excluded. Consecutive sampling was used. Sociodemographic and obstetric variables, delivery route and maternal and perinatal complications were measured. A descriptive analysis as well as a multivariate exploratory analysis of the factors associated with successful vaginal delivery were carried out.

Results:

Among 286 pregnant women included, the percentage of successful vaginal deliveries was 74.5 %. Maternal complications were identified in 3.2 % of vaginal delivery cases and in 6.8 % of cesarean births. Complications occurred in 1.3 % of all live neonates; there were 2 perinatal deaths. An association was found between successful vaginal delivery and a history of prior vaginal delivery (OR: 2.7; 95 % CI: 1.15-6.29); a Bishop score greater than 6 (OR: 2.2; 95 % CI: 1.034.56); spontaneous labor initiation (OR: 4.5; IC 95 % CI: 2.07-9.6); and maternal age under 30 years (OR: 2.28; 95 % CI: 1.2-4.2).

Conclusions:

Vaginal delivery is a safe option to consider in patients with prior cesarean section, in particular in cases of spontaneous labor initiation or prior vaginal delivery. Prospective cohorts are needed in order to confirm these findings.

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