Shorter maternal body height increases the risk of emergency caesarean section in a population with a high standard of prenatal care

Caesarean sections (CS) are the most common surgical procedures performed on women of reproductive age. They should only be performed when medically indicated or in case of acute birth complications. Assessing risk factors that could necessitate a CS is therefore of great interest. The aim of this retrospective medical record-based study was to analyse the significance of maternal height as a risk factor for emergency CS using a data set of 11,110 term births in Vienna, Austria. The emergency CS rate was 8.2%. Mothers experiencing emergency CS were significantly older, shorter, but heavier and more likely to be first-time mothers than women experiencing spontaneous vaginal childbirth. Very short mothers (< 156 cm) had the significantly highest (p < 0.001) emergency CS rate, while women with a height of > 175 cm had the lowest. Maternal height was an independent risk factor for emergency CS. For every centimetre decrease in height, the risk of an emergency CS increased significantly by 6.7%. Maternal height should therefore be considered a risk factor for birth complications that could require an emergency CS, even in a population with a very high standard of prenatal care.