According to a recent research in the United States, infant and neonatal mortality rates are higher among infants delivered by cesarean section than for those delivered vaginally. The overall rate of babies delivered by cesarean increased by 41% between 1996 and 2004, while the rate among women with no indicated risk for cesarean nearly doubled. According to MacDorman’s research, in the past, it was assumed that babies were delivered by cesarean because of a medical risk, thereby explaining the higher infant and neonatal mortality rates typically associated with cesarean births. In this study, only women with no identified medical risk or labor and delivery complication were included in the analysis and a substantial neonatal mortality rate differential was still found.
