Deliveries in short-stay hospitals: United States, 1980

During 1980 3.8 million women with deliveries were discharged from short-stay non-Federal hospitals in the United States. These women made up a sizable portion--9.9 percent--of all the discharges (excluding newborn infants) during that year. Women with deliveries remained hospitalized an average of 3.8 days and used 14.2 million days of inpatient hospital care. This was only 5.2 percent of the total days spent in hospitals by all patients discharged during the year. Most of the women who had a delivery were in their twenties, were white, and were married. The largest percent of deliveries occurred in the South Region, followed by the North Central, Northeast, and West Regions. The percent of women with deliveries was lowest in the smallest hospitals and highest in the largest hospitals. Most of the women with deliveries were discharged from nonprofit hospitals. About half of the women had a normal delivery and about half had some sort of complication. Women more likely to have a complicated delivery were older, were races other than white, had an unknown marital status, and had delivered in the South Region. These women also stayed in the hospital longer, on the average, than did women with normal delivery. The most frequently occurring complications were forceps or vacuum extraction without mention of indication and obstetrical trauma. Episiotomy was the most common procedure. Other frequently performed procedures were low forceps or vacuum extraction with or without episiotomy, cesarean section, repair of obstetric laceration, and bilateral destruction or occlusion of fallopian tubes.