No correlation between cesarean section rates and perinatal mortality of singleton infants over 2,500 g

Abstract

A rising cesarean section rate has been suggested as of benefit in reducing the already low perinatal death rates seen in developed countries for infants of normal birthweight. Iceland has one of the lowest national corrected and uncorrected perinatal mortality rates. Information was collected through the Icelandic birth registry for all 82,251 deliveries of non-malformed singletons weighing 2,500 g at birth, for the 20 years 1987-2006. The mean birthweight-specific perinatal mortality rate for these pregnancies was 2.0/1,000 per year (range 0.8-4.1/1000) without significant changes over the study period. The cesarean section rate varied between 11.9 and 16.7% and did not correlate with the perinatal mortality rate. Among the nulliparous women, cesarean section rates increased from 13.1 to 17.9% without correlation to the perinatal mortality, which on average was 1.7/1,000. A further benefit from rising cesarean section rates at term in countries with a prior low perinatal mortality is questioned.