According to provisional U.S. data for 2017, after four years of inching downward from 32.9% in 2013 to 31.9% in 2016, the overall cesarean rate rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 32.0% in 2017. The pain (pun intended) wasn't distributed evenly. The rate in...
The winter issue of Birth includes a study that provides proof positive that physiologic care is superior to medical management. The study reports the results of Strong Start, a program providing care at American Association of Birth Centers free-standing birth...
Research has long established that hospital-level cesarean rates vary widely for reasons that cannot be explained by variations in their patient populations. Theorizing that the challenges of caring for an unpredictable number of women with unpredictable and rapidly...
Consumer Reports announces the publication of the latest U.S. birth statistics. The 2016 cesarean rate was 31.9%, continuing a decline for the fourth year in a row, but don’t break out the pom-poms because the 4-year reduction amounts to a mere single percentage point...
UPI has published an article on the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) data analysis, “Perspectives on risk: Assessment of risk profiles and outcomes among women planning community birth in the United States.” As you can tell by the title, the study evaluates...
If you’ve ever wondered how much could be accomplished if a hospital made a concerted effort to reduce cesareans—and not because an insurance company held a metaphorical gun to its head—this study is for you. EurekAlert reports that Boston’s Beth Deaconess Hospital...
A study in the most recent issue of Birth provides eye-opening illumination on non-medical reasons for high cesarean rates (Kennedy 2016). Investigators at Yale’s med-school affiliated hospital conducted in-depth interviews eliciting opinions on how the institution...
Italian obstetricians report that replacing standard management of slow labor with a physiologic approach greatly reduced cesarean deliveries and the use of other medical interventions in 1st-time mothers. They conducted a before-and-after study in 419 1st-time...
The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) has published a revised and updated Committee Opinion on “Planned Home Birth.” If you read the media reports on it, you would think the new Opinion is “same-old, same-old,” but there are some...
“Our evidence suggests that mainstream obstetric science follows mainstream obstetric practice. A patient and expectant approach to birth…where all is considered normal until proved otherwise, produces a science that proves intervention to be unnecessary....
The first in Henci’s new Take Charge of Your Birth Series, Labor Pain: What’s Your Best Strategy? delivers up-to-date access to the best medical research plus practical strategies for developing your plan and putting it into action. Also available in audiobook.
