A study published in The Lancet by Boerma et al found that the rates of caesarean section (CS) births nearly doubled between 2000 and 2015 – from 12 to 21 percent worldwide.
The paper was based on data from 169 countries that includes 98% of the world's births. The authors estimated that 29·7 million or 21% births occurred with CS in 2015, which was almost double the number of births by CS in 2000 16 million or 12·% births. C-section use in 2015 was up to ten times more frequent in the Latin America and Caribbean region, where it was used in 44% of births, than in the west and central Africa region, where it was used in 4% of births.
C-section births varied from 0·6% in South Sudan to 58% in the Dominican Republic. Markedly high CS use was used even among low obstetric risk births, especially among more educated women in Brazil and China; and CS use was 1·6 times more frequent in private than in public facilities.
The researchers report that CS is unavailable to women in poor countries while often over-used in richer ones. The authors found that in 15 countries in North America, Western Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean more than 40 percent of all babies born are delivered by C-section.
C-section use in excess of the 10-15% which is considered optimal is concerning because the procedure is associated with sort-term and long-term effects without offering any significant maternal benefits.
