Trends in C-section rates in America
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Objective
This report presents trends in cesarean rates for low-risk women, in relation to the Healthy People 2010 objectives. A low risk woman has a full term (at least 37 completed weeks of gestation) singleton pregnancy (not a multiple pregnancy) with vertex fetal presentation (head facing in a downward position in the birth canal). Data for the United States showing trends by maternal age, race, and Hispanic origin are presented.
Highlights
Cesarean rates for low-risk women having a first birth, and repeat cesarean rates, increased between 1996 and 2003 to the highest rates ever reported for low-risk women in the United States. Rates increased similarly for low-risk women of all ages and racial and ethnic groups.
Other findings include
The widespread increase in the cesarean rate for low-risk women supports the idea that the indications for cesarean delivery have changed.
Twenty-four percent of first births to low risk women in 2003 were cesarean births, an increase of one-third since 1996.
The rate of repeat cesarean delivery increased by more than one fourth, from 70 to 89 percent during this time period. Therefore, in 2003, only 11 percent of low-risk women who had a previous cesarean went on to have a subsequent vaginal delivery.”
Jenny Hatch