Abstract
Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze the birth methods (vaginal, with medical intervention, or by Cesarean Section, CS) predominant in the Malopolska province, to describe the risk factors for non-physiologically normal births, and to characterize the demographics of women who give birth and selected parameters of maternity care. Methods: The retrospective analysis was conducted on data collected in 2013–2014 in the framework of the current activity of the Polish National Health Fund and encompassed 68,894 childbirths from 29 hospitals in 21 towns in the south of Poland. Results: In the study period, 38,366 (56.5%) of the births in Malopolska were vaginal, and only 22,839 (22.9%) of births were considered ‘normal’, without an episiotomy. The remaining were births by CS (29,551; 43.5%). Factors increasing the chances of having a normal childbirth in comparison with birth by CS were as follows: days free from work, living in a village, woman’s age > 35 years, and the hospital’s referral level (primary or secondary). Women aged 18–34 years and those living in a village/town were more frequently admitted directly into the birth room without a stay in the maternity units. There was a high level of medicalization of births in Malopolska: natural labour and childbirth were rare. It seems that efforts to increase natural birth rates should be directed toward both reducing the CS rate as well as increasing vaginal birth without an episiotomy.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a normal birth is defined as one that starts spontaneously and bears a low risk of complications, with the child being born between the 37th and 42nd week of pregnancy in a vertex position [1]
The province accounts for 8.75% of the Polish population, 51.38% of whom live in rural areas
54.9% of the women covered by this study lived in the countryside, which is the largest proportion considering all the birth-giving women in Poland (42.1%, Table 1)
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a normal birth is defined as one that starts spontaneously and bears a low risk of complications, with the child being born between the 37th and 42nd week of pregnancy in a vertex position [1]. It is an ideal way of finishing a pregnancy, as it entails both a lower risk of complications for the mother and better safety for the neonate [2,3,4,5,6]. Women who do not require specialized medical care and who do not demonstrate medical indications for intervention during the birth should be provided with proper
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International journal of environmental research and public health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
