Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Boom in C-section births


HANOI - NEARLY half of all births in China are delivered by cesarean section, the world's highest rate, according to a survey by the World Health Organisation - a shift toward modernisation that isn't necessarily a good thing.

The boom in unnecessary surgeries is jeopardising women's health, the UN health agency warned in the report published online on Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet.

Unnecessary C-sections are costlier than natural births and raise the risk of complications for the mother, said the report surveying nine Asian nations. It noted C-sections have reached 'epidemic proportions' in many countries worldwide.

The most dramatic findings were in China, where 46 per cent of births reviewed were C-sections - a quarter of them not medically necessary, the report said.

The WHO, which reviewed nearly 110,000 births across Asia in 2007-2008, found 27 per cent were done under the knife. That mirrors similar results reported by WHO in 2005 from Latin America, where 35 per cent of pregnant women surveyed were delivering by C-section.

In the US, where C-sections are at an all-time high of 31 per cent, the surgery is often performed on older expectant mothers, during multiple births or simply because patients request it or doctors fear malpractice lawsuits. A government panel warned against elective C-sections in 2006.


3 comments:

夏娃 said...

Do you think is a good idea to apply silicon gel like Dermatix for c-sect scar healing?or just another marketing gimic?

Dr Jason Ong said...

Silikon gel is effective in preventing scar formation.
If you want to use silikon gel, you need to wait until the wound is fully recovered, about one month after your caesarean delivery.

Anonymous said...

Those doctors are disgusting creeps