Hospital midwives can lower the rate of C-section procedure

Expecting mothers can lower the risk of cesarean delivery by involving a midwife. According to researchers, where midwives are involved, there is less requirement of a surgical procedure, known as the episiotomy, during childbirth.

Study author, Laura Attanasio, who studied some expecting mothers said that births attended by midwives had fewer operations and other procedures related to childbirth. This helps in lowering the costs without reducing the quality of care.

Researchers studied patients in 125 hospitals in New York City. Around 25 percent of hospitals did not have midwives. Around 50% had midwives, but they attended as less as 15% of births. At 7% of hospitals, midwives attended 40% of childbirths. In 2014, presence of midwives was marked at only 9% of the births in the U.S.

The study author noted that there is low risk in childbirth when less medical procedures are used. Usually, more attention is given to medical procedures like cesarean and others that do not lead to better outcomes for mothers as well as babies.

Legislative intervention is necessary to increase access to midwife care in cases of pregnancies that are not very risky.

This research was published in the Journal of Midwifery and Woman’s Health.

Source: drugs.com