New research into Caesarean deliveries

Caesarian births have become de rigeur with celebrity mums, but new research carried out by a team of researchers led by Professor Deirdre Murphy of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, has shown that Caesarians may actually lead to fertility problems for some women.

The researchers found that the increased use of Caesareans - rather than instrumental vaginal delivery when problems arose during labour - would have far reaching consequences for women. According to the research, women who had their first child by Caesarean were more likely to report having problems conceiving again, compared to women who had a vaginal delivery using instruments such as forceps. They were also far less likely to go on to have a normal delivery if they had the major operation during their first pregnancy.

The number of Caesareans carried out has increased rapidly in recent years, with around a quarter of the 600,000 babies born in the UK each year now delivered by this method. This is well above the 10% rate recommended by the World Health Organisation. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence is considering tightening up the rules to prevent women from having the operation for non-medical reasons - often requested by those classed as "too posh to push".

The latest research, published on bmj.com, looked at 283 women three years after they had either an instrumental vaginal delivery or a Caesarean. Of these women, almost half (140) had been pregnant again after three years. Those who had a vaginal delivery using either ventouse or forceps were less likely to say they had difficulty becoming pregnant again.

Out of the 192 who had planned to get pregnant again, only 5% of women who had a vaginal delivery reported difficulty conceiving compared with 19% of those who had a Caesarean.

A spokesperson for the team said, "Women who have had an instrumental vaginal delivery should be reassured by the very high rate of spontaneous vaginal delivery that can be achieved in a subsequent pregnancy."