Neonatal Death is Higher for Babies Delivered by Cesarean in Low-risk Mothers

Filed in archive Diagnostics , Studies on September 7, 2006

In the past, delivery by cesarean section has proven to be a life-saving intervention resulting from a medical indication or because of a medical risk. However, these days more and more cesarean deliveries are being conducted without a reported medical indication.

According to researchers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an analysis of over 5.7 million live births and nearly 12,000 infant deaths over a four-year period, for mothers at low risk, infant and neonatal mortality rates are higher among infants delivered by cesarean section than for those delivered vaginally in the United States.

The overall rate of babies delivered by cesarean increased by 41% between 1996 and 2004, while the rate among women with no indicated risk for cesarean delivery (term births with no indicated medical risk factors or complications of labor and delivery) nearly doubled.

Neonatal (<28 days of age) deaths are generally rare for infants of low-risk women (about 1 death per 1,000 live births). Even after adjustment for socio-demographic and medical risk factors, neonatal mortality rates among infants delivered by cesarean section were more than twice those for vaginal deliveries.

According to Marian MacDorman, lead researcher:

"These findings should be of concern for clinicians and policy makers who are observing the rapid growth in the number of primary cesareans to mothers without a medical indication.

Although the neonatal mortality rate for this group of low-risk women remains low regardless of the method of delivery, the resulting increase in the cesarean rate may inadvertently be putting a larger population of babies at risk for neonatal mortality."

In this study, published in the latest issue of Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, only women with no identified medical risk or labor and delivery complication were included in the analysis and a substantial neonatal mortality rate differential was still found.

My child's delivery was by cesarean section because I had labor complication. So I can't understand why any woman who is capable of vaginal delivery would opt for a cesarean section. Just to escape the pains of labor?

As if there is no post-surgical pain with cesarean?! I am no medical doctor but in my honest opinion, birthing methods should be chosen and conducted with respect to the least amount of risk it will impose on both mother and child, and not the mother or the child alone.

Being covered by your HMO is not a reason either for a cesarean delivery.

Whoever thought that delivery by cesarean has the least risk for babies? Read this article and think again.