New Study Warns of Risks from Unnecessary Cesarean Births

Posted on January 7, 2010 in Health & Medicine, Parenting, Recent Studies, Women's Health

Researchers from the University of Rochester School of Medicine are sounding a warning bell about what they say is an increasing number of unnecessary cesarean births of babies in the United States.

Many American women choose to have so-called C-sections instead of vaginal births, but the procedures are still major surgeries which increase the risks of infection, bleeding, blood clots, and injuries to organs, the researchers said.

The Minnesota researchers say most mothers should wait for spontaneous labor and C-sections should be reserved for cases of diabetes, high blood pressure, where the baby or mother are in danger, or where the mother is at least 10 days past her due date, according to a Reuters news report.

The university team examined birth certificates for about 38,000 women from 13 New York State hospitals from January 2004 to March 2008. They excluded women who had scheduled or previous cesarean deliveries and those who had come to the hospital with ruptured membranes.

They found that all groups of women who had induced labor faced increased risk for C-section, except for women who were delivering after 39 weeks, according to Reuters. The study’s findings are published in the January 2010 issue of the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.