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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Eugene Declercq, PhD, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118, 617-638-7795, declercq@bu.edu and Carol Sakala, PhD, MSPH, Director of Programs, Childbirth Connection, 281 Park Avenue South, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10010.

The US cesarean rate reached 29% in 2004, an all-time high. One of the factors regularly cited as contributing to this rapidly rising cesarean rate was the growth in cesareans based on mother's demands. Concern with this phenomenon led to a NIH State-of-the-Science Conference on Maternal Request cesareans in March, 2006 to explore whether there should be a randomized trial of cesarean versus vaginal birth, with estimates as high as 18% of cesareans being based on maternal request. Missing in all these estimates are any studies of women's actual views – rather the studies used vital statistics or administrative databases to identify medically elective cesareans and then assumed that these must be based on patient request. This study will use a national survey of mothers who gave birth in 2005, which was carried out by Childbirth Connection, to explore mothers' views on cesarean births. The study, Listening to Mothers II, was administered in January and February of 2006 to more than 1500 women nationally by Harris Interactive. Mothers who had a cesarean were asked the reason for their cesarean with an option for “my choice.” Those who indicated they chose the cesarean without a medical reason were asked an open ended question concerning their decision-making process. All mothers who had a cesarean were asked about the nature and timing of decision making concerning their cesareans. All mothers were asked about their views of elective cesareans in the future. These results will be the core of the analysis in the presentation.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe the issues associated with identifying maternal request cesareans
• Summarize the findings related to cesarean births in Listening to Mothers II
• Identify the factors related to maternal requests for cesareans when they do occur

Keywords: Maternal Health, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No