Geospatial variation in caesarean delivery

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variation in caesarean delivery rates across counties in Georgia and to determine whether county-level characteristics were associated with clusters. Design: This was a retrospective, observational study. Methods: Rates of primary and repeat caesarean by maternal county of residence were calculated for 2008 through 2012. Global Moran's I (Spatial Autocorrelation) was used to identify geographic clustering. Characteristics of high and low-rate counties were compared using student's t test and chi-squared test. Results: Spatial analysis of both primary and repeat caesarean rate identified the presence of clusters (Moran's I = 0.375; p