Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras researchers have discovered a sharp uptick in the number of caesarean section (C-section) deliveries that took place across the country between 2016 and 2021, stated a press release from the institute.
The study was undertaken by researchers from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras. They include Varshini Neethi Mohan and Dr P Shirisha, Research Scholars, Dr Girija Vaidyanathan and Prof VR Muraleedharan. The findings of this study were published in the reputed, peer-reviewed journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.
What is C-section?
A caesarean section (C-section) delivery is a surgical technique that involves making an incision in the mother's belly to deliver one or more infants. When medically justified, the procedure can be lifesaving. When not strictly necessary, however, it can cause several adverse health outcomes, lead to unnecessary expenditure, and place a strain on scarce public health resources.
Factors that could contribute to adverse birth outcomes and possibly justify C-sections (such as the mother’s age being less than 18 years or greater than 34 years, the interval between births being less than 24 months or the child being the fourth or more born to the mother) are considered high-risk fertility behaviour.
In an in-depth analysis of Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, the researchers found that despite the fact that both pregnancy complications and high-risk fertility behaviour were more prevalent in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu had a higher prevalence of C-sections.
Elaborating on the importance of these findings and its implications for health policymakers in the country, Prof VR Muraleedharan, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, said, “A key finding was that the place of delivery (whether the delivery was in a public or a private facility) had the greatest impact on whether the delivery was by C-section, implying that ‘clinical need’ factors were not necessarily the reason for surgical deliveries. Across India and Chhattisgarh, the non-poor were more likely to opt for C-sections, while in Tamil Nadu, the case was surprisingly different, as the poor were more likely to have C-sections in private hospitals.”
The prevalence of C-sections across India increased from 17.2% to 21.5% in the five years leading up to 2021. In the private sector, these numbers stand at 43.1% (2016) and 49.7% (2021), meaning that nearly one in two deliveries in the private sector is a C-section.
