Obstetric outcomes
Surgical time was significantly shorter in patients who did not have a UC inserted (46.1 min [IC95% 43.4 – 48.8] vs 51.1 min [IC95% 49.4 – 52.8], p = 0.005), being the mean time difference 5.0 min [IC95% 1.5 – 8.4].
Figure 1 and Table 2 display time to first micturition, time to mobilization, time to first oral intake and time to hospital discharge. When comparing those patients who underwent CD with no UC placed or when it was early removed (before 6 h after the surgery) to those with a later removal, time to first micturition after surgery, time to first oral intake and time to hospital discharge were significantly shorter in the first group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p = 0.032, respectively). Time to mobilization, was shorter in the first group, although not being significantly different between groups (p = 0.068).
When comparing those patients with no UC with those with UC placed, regardless its time of removal, no differences in the occurrence of uterine atony (p = 0.976) were observed. Moreover, no bladder lesions were recorded in either group. Urinary retention was more frequently observed in patients in which UC was not placed compared to those patients in which it was placed (21.9 % [IC95% 11.7 – 32.0] vs 8.9 % [IC95% 5.2 – 12.6], p = 0.004) and consequently intermittent catheterization was also more frequent in the first group (39.7 % [IC95% 27.6 – 51.8] vs 19.6 % [IC95% 14.4 – 24.7], p < 0.001).