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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The pain of pushing associated with childbirth may cause many women to choose Caesarean section delivery, but a new study adds to the body of evidence of its associated risks.
Researchers from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows found a planned C-section puts women at three times the risk for severe complications compared to having a natural birth. The study compared 46,766 women who delivered Caesarean and 2,292,420 women who delivered vaginally. The researchers found severe complications in about 27 per 1,000 Caesarean deliveries compared to 9 complications per 1,000 planned natural deliveries.
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The planned Caesarean birth mothers were more likely to have cardiac arrest, wound hematoma, hemorrhage requiring a hysterectomy, bacterial infection, anesthetic complications, and required longer hospital stays.
There are, however, many who say the benefits of C-section outweigh the risks. Ashley Hill, M.D., an OB/GYN with Florida Hospital's Loch Haven OB/GYN Group in Orlando, tells Ivanhoe: "The potential benefits of having the C-section include, scheduling issues, which is a major deal for a lot of my working mothers or working patients. A second issue is a lot of ladies are very afraid of having urinary incontinence or probably worse, fecal incontinence. The third most common reason patients want to have a C-section is they are afraid of some type of sexual dysfunction later on from having a baby the natural route."
C-sections are at an all time high in the United States, with 30 percent of all births delivered this way. On average, they cost between $10,000 and $15,000, compared to between $2,000 and $4,000 for vaginal births.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Ashley Hill, M.D., Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2007; 176: 455-460
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