The opinion of Brazilian women regarding vaginal labor and cesarean section.

Objectives: The opinions of Brazilian women regarding vaginal delivery and cesarean sections was studied.

Methods: Six hundred and fifty-six women who had given birth in seven hospitals in São Paulo and Pernambuco, using the Public Health Service, were interviewed. The opinions of women who had delivered only by cesarean section was compared with those of women who had had at least one vaginal delivery.

Results: Significantly more women who had experienced at least one vaginal delivery considered this to be the best way of giving birth (90.4% vs. 75.9% among C-section-only women). Similar proportions in both groups (45.5% and 42.8%) stated that vaginal labor is better because it causes less pain and suffering for the woman. Significantly more women who had experienced a vaginal labor (47.1% vs. 30.3%) reported that it had no disadvantage. More women who had only had cesarean sections referred not having contractions/pain as an advantage of this method (56.7% vs. 41.7%).

Conclusions: Apparently, pain and women's perception of pain were the characteristics which differentiated women with history of vaginal delivery from those with cesarean sections in the sample studied. However, the opinion that vaginal delivery is better than cesarean section was expressed independently of the recognition that pain could be its main disadvantage.