Impact of 'Decision-to-delivery' Interval on Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes: A Retrospective Study of Emergency Caesarean Section from 2017 to 2021 at a Secondary Health Facility in Nigeria

The decision-to-delivery interval (DDI) for a caesarean section is among the factors that reflect the quality of care a pregnant woman receives and the impact on maternal and foetal outcomes and should not exceed 30 min especially for Category 1 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. Herein, we evaluated the effect of decision-to-delivery interval on the maternal and perinatal outcomes among emergency caesarean deliveries at a secondary health facility in north-central Nigeria. We conducted a four-year retrospective descriptive analysis of all emergency caesarean sections at a secondary health facility in north-central Nigeria. We included pregnant mothers who had emergency caesarean delivery at the study site from February 10, 2017, to February 9, 2021. Out of 582 who underwent an emergency caesarean section, 550 (94.5