Doctors to blame for high caesarean rates
October 8th, 2010 - 5:07 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Oct 8 (IANS) It’s not mothers who are to be blamed for high rates of caesarean births but doctors, says a British study.
A debate has been raging over Britain’s high caesarean rate with around one in four births delivered surgically.
Now, a study has found there is large variation in caesarean rates.
Most of the differences are due to decisions taken in emergency situations rather than mothers asking for surgery when they do not need it, reports the Telegraph.
The research found there were 620,604 births of single babies in 2008 with 24 percent delivered by caesarean section, according to the British Medical Journal.
When characteristics and clinical factors of mothers were taken into account, the rate varied from 15 percent in some hospitals to almost one third in others.
Lead author Fiona Bragg, specialty registrar in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, wrote that there were around 15,000 women who had a caesarean without a prior identified clinical reason and 30 percent of those were done as emergency cases.
“We observed that variation in the overall rates of caesarean section was associated with rates of emergency procedures,” she added.
- Babies born by caesarean more likely to be obese - May 24, 2012
- Caesarean babies at greater risk of becoming fat - May 15, 2011
- Caesarean babies have higher risk of asthma - Jan 11, 2012
- 'Most women demand Caesareans' myth debunked - Oct 07, 2010
- British hospitals ban caesareans in cost-cutting move - Aug 21, 2011
- Caesarean could pose health risk to babies - Feb 10, 2012
- Babies born by caesarean 'are calmer' - Nov 04, 2010
- Forced birth may cause emotional problems for babies - Nov 04, 2010
- Babies born outside working hours more likely to die - Jul 17, 2010
- Nearly one in two births in China caesarean: Survey - Jan 14, 2010
- Odisha's health workers fight maternal deaths (Feature) - Mar 12, 2012
- Natural birth after C-section safe - Mar 12, 2010
- Cervical cancer leading cancer-killer among Indian women - Mar 28, 2012
- Probe over doctors' labour room brawl in Italy - Aug 30, 2010
- New Test Can Predict Whether Expectant Mothers Need C-Section - Aug 30, 2010
Tags: babies, british medical journal, caesarean births, caesarean section, clinical factors, decisions, doctors, emergency cases, emergency procedures, emergency situations, hospitals, london school of hygiene, london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, medicine, public health, telegraph, variation