Underreporting of complete uterine rupture and uterine dehiscence in women with previous cesarean section

OBJECTIVE: To determine the true incidence of complete uterine rupture and uterine dehiscence among women delivered by cesarean section after a previous cesarean section. METHODS: Medical records of all women who delivered at University Hospital in Malmö, Sweden, during 2005-2009 (n = 21 420) were retrieved from the electronic patient record system (EPRS). After adjustment for inaccuracies, 716 women who had undergone repeat cesarean section were identified and their operation reports were reviewed. Descriptions of complete uterine rupture or uterine dehiscence in operation reports were compared with diagnoses registered in EPRS with International Classification of Diseases codes version 10 (ICD-10). Sensitivity and specificity of complete uterine rupture registration were calculated. RESULTS: There were 13 women with a registered diagnosis of uterine rupture. After reviewing medical records of women with repeat cesarean section, seven additional cases of complete uterine rupture, 33 cases of uterine dehiscence and 39 cases of extremely thin myometrium were identified. The incidence of complete uterine rupture and uterine dehiscence for women who delivered by repeat cesarean section was 2.8% and 10.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of complete uterine rupture was underreported in the EPRS by 35% and diagnosis of uterine dehiscence was missing in 100% of cases.