|
|
Article: Cesarean deliveries.(Shorts)(it's risk factors)
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine
- Article date:
- November 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
"Can a 29% cesarean delivery rate possibly be justified?" asks Robert Resnik, MD, in his editorial for Obstetrics & Gynecology (April 2006). The number of cesarean deliveries has increased from 5.5% of US births in 1970 to 29.1% in 2004, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Although a cesarean can be life-saving, this high percentage of cesarean deliveries is puzzling, given that vaginal delivery usually requires less medical intervention, has a faster recovery rate, and is associated with better maternal-child bonding. Resnik attributes the rise to the use of electronic fetal heart rate monitoring (EFM), which started in the 1960s, and to the increase ...