Cesarean section rates and local resources for perinatal care in Japan

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H06647
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Hygiene and public health
• Research Institution: Akita University
• Principal Investigator: Maeda Eri 秋田大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (30778395)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 帝王切開 / 周産期医療

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We examined nationwide CS statistics and evaluated the association with local resources for perinatal care. We used accumulated data for CS registered in the Japan National Database of health insurance claims in 2013 and calculated crude and age-standardized CS rates at national and prefectural levels. We analyzed the ecological associations with supply of obstetricians and institution and scale of obstetric facilities using multiple regression models. There were 190 361 cesarean deliveries in 2013, giving an overall CS rate of 18.5%, which varied by prefecture from 14.0% to 25.6%. In multiple regression analyses, the areal number of obstetricians (β = －0.58), the proportion of births at small-scale institutions (β = 0.36) and the number of beds at neonatal intensive care units per birth (β = －0.20) were significantly associated with the age-standardized elective CS rate . Higher elective CS rates might be associated with limited or unconsolidated medical resources.

Free Research Field

母子保健