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posted by martyb on Friday October 12 2018, @06:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the labor-of-love dept.

C-section births rise rapidly to more than 20 percent worldwide

Rates of caesarean section births almost doubled between 2000 and 2015 – from 12 to 21 percent worldwide - new research has found, with the life-saving surgery unavailable to many women in poor countries while often over-used in richer ones.

The research, published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday, found that 60 percent of countries overuse C-sections and 25 percent under-use them, suggesting that recommendations for their use in cases of medical need are widely ignored.

In at least 15 countries, more than 40 percent of all babies born are delivered by C-section. The highest rate, of 58.1 percent, was in the Dominican Republic.

Experts estimate that between 10 and 15 percent of births medically require a C-section due to complications such as bleeding, foetal distress, hypertension or a baby being in an abnormal position.

While the procedure can save lives - of both mothers and newborns - it can also create complications and side effects, including higher risks for future births.

"The large increases in C-section use – mostly in richer settings for non-medical purposes – are concerning because of the associated risks for women and children," said Marleen Temmerman, an expert from Aga Khan University in Kenya and Ghent University in Belgium who co-led the research.

Also at BBC, EurekAlert!, The Guardian, and Voice of America.

See also: New WHO guidance on non-clinical interventions specifically designed to reduce unnecessary caesarean sections

Global epidemiology of use of and disparities in caesarean sections (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31928-7) (DX)


Original Submission #1   Original Submission #2

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @11:31PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @11:31PM (#748116)

    11 kids?! How have you not hung yourself?

    Different AC here. I've got 8 of my own (cue theme song to "Eight is Enough"), and you learn the patience you need to handle it. It also helps that human memory tends to emphasize the highs and minimize the lows. [sciencedirect.com] Seriously, Matt Inman's not wrong about parenthood being gross; most parents joke that if children weren't so cute they wouldn't survive the terrible twos. No one is really ever ready to have kids, you just make a leap of faith and figure it out as you go.

    It's worth it, though. There's a lot of fulfillment to be had in helping a person (that you helped make!) grow into a functioning member of society. If you decide it's not for you, that's fine. If you're speaking out of ignorance (i.e. never having been a parent), maybe you should be a bit less judgy of people who enjoy parenthood and are having a good experience with it.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @11:43PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @11:43PM (#748118)

    8-is-enough here again; I owe you an apology, I forgot who I was talking to. You know exactly what I'm talking about with the kids being gross and stressful, best of luck with your family.

    For what it's worth, there's a big change in family dynamics that happens when you get to your 5th kid: built-in babysitters. A 12-year-old can watch the others while parents go out on a date and enjoy an uninterrupted conversation at a linguistic level above 6th grade. They start pulling their own weight, which takes a big load off the parents. This totally makes up for the fact that there are more of them than you have arms between two parents.

    What you're doing is harder than what I'm doing, and you have my sympathy.