Caesarean section rates in teaching hospitals of Tehran: 1999-2003.

To determine the trends of caesarean section in teaching hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, a retrospective analysis was performed on the obstetric data from 3 hospitals in a 5-year period. The caesarean section rate increased from 35.4% of deliveries in 1999 to 42.3% in 2003. The data showed that there was a steady increase in elective operations that might explain the rise in overall caesarean section rate.