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Reducing caesarean section rates--no easy task
Christine L Roberts1, Charles S Algert, Angela L Todd
1Clinical and Population Perinatal Health Research, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia. clroberts@med.usyd.edu.au
To identify the greatest potential for reducing overall caesarean delivery rates, we used longitudinally linked data for women with consecutive births 2001-2009 to examine the likely impact of hypothetical risk-based scenarios. Among women with a first birth, singleton, vertex-presenting fetus at term, increasing the vaginal birth rate following induction of labour by 20% potentially has greatest impact, with a 12.1% relative decrease in the overall caesarean rate. The potential relative decrease in other scenarios ranged from 0.8 to 5.9%.
To identify the greatest potential for reducing overall caesarean delivery rates, we used longitudinally linked data for women with consecutive births 2001-2009 to examine the likely impact of hypothetical risk-based scenarios. Among women with a first birth, singleton, vertex-presenting fetus at term, increasing the vaginal birth rate following induction of labour by 20% potentially has greatest impact, with a 12.1% relative decrease in the overall caesarean rate. The potential relative decrease in other scenarios ranged from 0.8 to 5.9%.
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