Women giving birth using private health care are twice as likely to have a Caesarean section as those who use state-funded services, researchers reveal today.
The findings, from a study in Ireland, cast new light on the rising rates of Caesarean deliveries in the developed world.
Writing in BMJ Open, the researchers say there is no evidence that the high rate of private Caesarean sections is linked to women’s medical needs.
About one fifth of procedures in Irish hospitals involve private patients while the remainder are publicly financed.
The new study involved about 30,000 women over a three-year period. The private patients tended to be older, wealthier and better educated than other women.
Researcher Professor Deirdre Murphy, of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, said: "We found the differences observed in relation to operative deliveries were not explained by higher rates of medical or obstetric complications among private patients."
The UK Royal College of Midwives said the findings might throw new light on the high rates of the procedure.
Janine Stockdale, of the college, said: "The findings also underline the need to avoid unnecessary caesarean sections as this is a major surgical operation, that has the potential for increased complications every time a woman has the procedure carried out."
A retrospective cohort study of mode of delivery among public and private patients in an integrated maternity hospital setting BMJ Open 26 November 2013; doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003865 [abstract]
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