Revista panamericana de salud pública = Pan American journal of public health
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Rev. Panam. Salud Publica · May 2011
Correlation of Cesarean rates to maternal and infant mortality rates: an ecologic study of official international data.
To correlate international official data on Cesarean delivery rates to infant and maternal mortality rates and low weight-at-birth rates; and to test the hypothesis that Cesarean rates greater than 15% correlate to higher maternal and infant mortality rates. ⋯ There is an inverse exponential relation between countries' rates of Cesarean deliveries and infant or maternal mortality rates. Very low Cesarean rates (less than 15%) are associated with poorer maternal and child outcomes. Cesarean rates greater than 15% were neither correlated to higher maternal nor child mortality, nor to low weight-at-birth.