Wealth isn’t the cause of C-section rise

With caesarean-section rates on the rise in the U.S. and Britain, some researchers have speculated that one reason for the increase is that more affluent women are choosing C-sections to avoid the inconvenience of natural childbirth.

British researchers have published a paper in the British Medical Journal debunking this notion, which has been dubbed “too posh to push.” The analysis of hospital births in England for 2001-02 found that, contrary to the initial assumption of the researchers, wealthy women were no more likely than those of other economic status to elect to give birth by C-section.

There was one exception to those findings. The researchers found that the poorest women were the least likely to have elective caesareans. This may suggest cultural differences, a lack of education about maternal choice, or the system’s failure to serve the poorest minority, Taylor said.

About one in five births in Britain are C-section deliveries. Of those, about 9% are elective. U.S. rates have been on the rise since 1995, reaching 26% in 2002, the latest year for which data is available. A study done last year found there was a 20% increase in the number of first time elective C-sections in the U.S. between 1999 and 2001.

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Daffodil J. Altan