Correlation of Cesarean rates to maternal and infant mortality rates: an ecologic study of official international data Correlación de la tasa de cesáreas con las tasas de mortalidad materna e infantil: estudio ecológico basado en datos oficiales internacionales

• Main Author: Fernando Madalena Volpe
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2011
• Subjects: Mortalidad infantil; mortalidad materna; mortalidad neonatal; cesárea; peso al nacer; Infant mortality; maternal mortality; neonatal mortality; Cesarean section; birth weight; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/41c5097840c14d2a8b16c2ebe91b42f9

OBJECTIVE: To correlate international official data on Cesarean delivery rates to infant and maternal mortality rates and low weight-at-birth rates; and to test the hypothesis that Cesarean rates greater than 15% correlate to higher maternal and infant mortality rates. METHODS: Analyses were based on the most recent official data (2000-2009) available for 193 countries. Exponential models were compared to quadratic models to regress infant mortality rates, neonatal mortality rates, maternal mortality rates, and low weight-at-birth rates to Cesarean rates. Separate regressions were performed for countries with Cesarean rates greater than 15%. RESULTS: In countries with Cesarean rates less than 15%, higher Cesarean rates were associated to lower infant, neonatal, and maternal mortality rates, and to lower rates of low weightat-birth. In countries with Cesarean rates greater than 15%, Cesarean rates were not significantly associated with infant or maternal mortality rates. CONCLUSIONS: There is an inverse exponential relation between countries' rates of Cesarean deliveries and infant or maternal mortality rates. Very low Cesarean rates (less than 15%) are associated with poorer maternal and child outcomes. Cesarean rates greater than 15% were neither correlated to higher maternal nor child mortality, nor to low weight-at-birth. OBJETIVO: Correlacionar los datos oficiales internacionales sobre las tasas de parto por cesárea con las tasas de mortalidad materna e infantil y con la tasa de bajo peso al nacer, y someter a prueba la hipótesis que sostiene que una tasa de cesáreas mayor de 15% se correlaciona con tasas de mortalidad materna e infantil más elevadas. MÉTODOS: Los análisis se basaron en los datos oficiales más recientes disponibles (2000-2009) de 193 países. Se compararon modelos exponenciales con modelos cuadráticos para hacer un análisis de regresión de las tasas de mortalidad infantil, neonatal y materna, así como de las tasas de bajo peso al nacer, respecto de las tasas de cesáreas. En los países con una ...