We looked at almost 300,000 births and found those mothers in the private system were more likely to have a caesarean – even if they didn’t really want or need one.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Caesarean section
Displaying 1 - 20 of 37 articles
Women deserve to know all the risks and be supported in their birth choices.
Many pregnant women who request planned caesarean deliveries are simply told no, despite guidelines advising doctors who disagree to offer referral or transfer care.
Tokophobia goes beyond normal childbirth concerns and worries and becomes an intense and irrational fear of pregnancy and/or labour.
Our study joins a growing body of evidence that suggests caesarean sections may have more consequences than previously thought.
The decline in US birth weight is somewhat of a puzzle for public health researchers.
Compared to women who give birth in a birth centre, those who give birth in hospitals are much more likely to have interventions – from epidurals, to labour augmentation and caesarean deliveries.
Childbirth used to be a terrifying ordeal. But women were surrounded by others – mothers, aunts, sisters – who brought love and experience. But midway through the 19th century, this changed.
A new study has found a link between being born by caesarean section and having a greater chance of being diagnosed with autism or ADHD. But there’s no evidence caesarean sections cause them.
Evidence suggests that microbes play a vital role in health. But what microbes we get depends whether we were born in a hospital versus at home. That could impact our health decades later.
Professional bodies say that vaginal births after caesareans are safe and usually successful. So why do doctors often recommend that women go back under the knife?
A professor of midwifery education reviews the research evaluating the safety of home versus hospital births.
Research shows that women in Africa are more likely to die as a result of complications related to C-sections.
New study finds that giving birth through an emergency caesarean increases the risk of developing postnatal depression in the first nine months after childbirth by about 15%.
A Lancet series shows that C-sections are performed for non-medical reasons in private health while poor women who need the surgery don’t have access.
If women don’t have access to quality emergency surgery, they can develop dibilitating complications such as fistula.
While childbirth is often a joyful event, it rarely unfolds exactly how we think it will. This causes disappointment among some women, and leaves a small proportion with a diagnosis of postnatal PTSD.
Our study found babies born via medical or surgical intervention were at increased risk of health problems, from jaundice and feeding issues, to diabetes, respiratory infections and eczema.
How should pregnant women make sense of the diverse risks and benefits of caesarean versus vaginal delivery?
Society holds paradoxical views of childbirth, which can make the debate around it confusing.
Top contributors
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Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR, Midwifery Discipline Leader, Western Sydney University
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Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Harvard University
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Caroline Homer is a Friend of The Conversation.
Co-Program Director: Maternal and Child Health, Burnet Institute
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Lecturer in Midwifery, University of Technology Sydney
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Bennett Chair of Autism, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia
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SHARP Professor, leader of the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, UNSW Sydney, and leader of the UNSW Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor in Public Health, Queensland University of Technology
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Professor of Health Economics, University of Technology Sydney
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President of the Royal College of Midwives
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Alison Macfarlane is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Perinatal Health, City, University of London
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Professor of Reproductive Health Research, Bournemouth University
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Professor, Western Sydney University
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Medical Anthropology PhD candidate, University of Edinburgh
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Research Fellow, Queensland University of Technology
