Background: A prophylactic antibiotic is recommended to reduce infection-related complication following cesarean delivery. There is a current debate on the time of prophylactic antibiotic in cesarean delivery.
Methods: An opened randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted at Soba hospital, Sudan to investigate the timing (pre-incision or after clamping of the umbilical cord) of ceftizoxime for elective cesarean delivery. The outcome measures were; the incidence of post-cesarean febrile and infection-related morbidity and neonatal outcomes between the two groups.
Results: Hundred -eighty women (90 women in each arm of the study) received intravenous injection of 1 g of ceftizoxime as single dose either at pre-incision or after clamping of the umbilical cord. None of the women in either group had endometritis. One woman in the pre-incision group had chest infection. There was no significant difference in the incidence of wound infection between the two groups, 8 (6.7%) vs. 3 (3.3%); P = 0.2. Two babies in the pre-incision group (P = 0.497) had a low Apgar score (< 8) at 1 min. Similar number of neonate (15 in each arm) was admitted to nursery. There were no significant difference in the neonatal jaundice between the two groups, 5 (5.5%) vs. 4 (4.4%), P = 0.2. There was no perinatal death.
Conclusions: There was no difference in the two regimens (pre-incision or post-clamping of the umbilical cord) of ceftizoxime as prophylactic for elective cesarean delivery.
Trial registration: NCT01347593.