title: A comparison of trends in caesarean section rates in former communist (transition) countries and other European countries.
abstract: Caesarean section rates are rising across Europe, and concerns exist that increases are not clinically indicated. Societal, cultural and health system factors have been identified as influential. Former communist (transition) countries have experienced radical changes in these potential determinants, and we, therefore, hypothesized they may exhibit differing trends to non-transition countries. By analysing data from the WHO Europe Health for All Database, we find transition countries had a relatively low caesarean section rate in 2000 but have since experienced more rapid increases than other countries (average annual percentage change 7.9 vs. 2.4).
authors.affiliation: MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK. vkatikireddi@nhs.net
authors.forename: Srinivasa V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Katikireddi
authors.forename: Dermot R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Gorman
authors.forename: Alastair H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Leyland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D003148:Communism; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D065246:Culturally Competent Care; D016208:Databases, Factual; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012922:Social Change; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical; D014944:World Health Organization; D055815:Young Adult