最新一项研究表明最近20年选择性和急症剖宫产术的趋势增加，并且不能用自然生产风险增加或其他指针来解释。

澳大利亚Telethon儿童健康研究中心的研究人员和其他澳大利亚机构回顾了1984到2003年西澳大利亚所有出生人员---超过430,000个案例，并分析了分娩的模式。此项研究中排除了其他类型和经臀部分娩的案例。

研究发现从1984到2003年，选择剖宫产术的比例从6%上升到13%，在同一时期急症剖宫产术的比例上升了70%。研究人员把私人医疗保险的因素加入分析，他们发现有医疗保险的妇女选择剖宫产术是不拥有者的3倍多，而急症剖宫产术为对照组的1.34倍。这项研究刊登在2007年5月出版的英国妇产科学杂志。

母亲对剖宫产术要求的程度对于剖宫产术比例的增加影响现在还未知。西澳大利亚大学妇婴保健学校的Craig Pennell博士说，“结果的产生是多因素联合的结果，并且反映出复杂的社会影响过程包括，临床治疗状态、分娩前培训、家庭与社会压力、法律体系、住址附近是否能进行这种手术，以及名人是否选择剖宫产术所产生的榜样效应等。”




Dramatic Increase in Caesarean Sections 

A new study has found an increasing trend in both elective and emergency caesarean section rates over the past 20 years that do not appear to be explained by increased risk or indication. 

Researchers at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (Perth, Australia) and other Australian institutions looked at all births in Western Australia between 1984 and 2003--more than 430,000 births--and analyzed the mode of delivery. The researchers excluded multiple and breech births. 

The study found that elective caesareans rose from 6% to 13% between 1984 and 2003, and during the same time, there had been a 70% increase in the number of emergency caesareans. When the researchers included private medical insurance into the analysis, they found that women who had medical insurance were more than three times as likely to have an elective caesarean section, and 1.34 times more likely to have an emergency c-section than those who were uninsured, even though pregnancy complications and obstetric problems which may need a caesarean section are higher in uninsured women. The study was published in the May 2007 issue of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 

he degree to which maternal request accounts for the increase in caesarean sections isn’t known,?said co-author obstetrician Craig Pennell, M.D., from the School of Women’s and Infants’ Health at the University of Western Australia (Perth, Australia). 揟he reasons are likely to be multifactorial and reflect a complex social process affected by clinical status, obstetric practice and training, family and social pressures, the legal system, availability of technology, women’s requests and women’s role models, such as celebrity elective caesarean delivery.