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Early baby deliveries plummet in US, California
Pregnant doctors are less likely than other women to deliver their babies via C-section, recent research suggests. Economists say that may be because the physician patients feel more empowered to question the obstetrician.
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Early baby deliveries plummet in US, California
A campaign to lower the rate of early delivery of babies has had remarkable success in recent years, according to data released Monday by a private group that works to improve the quality of health care. Among the hospitals that reported data, the national average dropped from 17 percent in 2010 to 4.6 percent in 2013, according to The Leapfrog Group, the private industry-backed group that published the results of its survey.
In California, 134 hospitals responded to Leapfrog's survey, roughly one third of the state's acute care hospitals. Among those facilities, the rate of early deliveries dropped below that of the level achieved nationally, going from 14.7 percent in 2010 to 3 percent last year.
Nearly 1,000 hospitals responded to The Leapfrog Group's survey nationally.
RELATED: FAQ on early elective delivery
Business, patient advocacy groups and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had been working to lower the early delivery rate for some time. Those efforts starting bearing more fruit after Leapfrog published its first data on early deliveries in 2010.
A number of early deliveries - defined as occurring before 39 weeks - have happened because the mothers got tired of pregnancy. Sometimes a doctor's imminent vacation or out-of-town conference has been a factor.
Many hospitals have adopted "hard-stop" policies, which forbid doctors from delivering babies before 39 weeks unless there is a medical reason.
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The movement got another boost last October, when the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists revised its definition of "term pregnancy." Previously the ACOG defined birth anytime between 37 and 42 weeks as "term." It has now expanded its definitions to say that anything before 39 weeks is "early term," and births between 39 and 41 weeks are "full term."
Some California hospitals that reported dramatic drops in early deliveries:
- Torrance Memorial Medical Center went from having 44.9 percent of its deliveries being early in 2010 to 7.6 percent in 2013.
- Riverside Community Hospital went from having 55.1 percent of its deliveries being early in 2010 to 0.9 percent in 2013.
- Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia went from having 40.3 percent of its deliveries being early in 2010 to 3.6 percent in 2013.
- Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks went from having 42 percent of its deliveries being early in 2010 to 0 percent in 2013.
- Citrus Valley Medical Center ‐Queen Of The Valley Campus in West Covina went from having 40 percent of its deliveries being early in 2010 to 1.9 percent in 2013.
Data: The Leapfrog Group's full table of hospitals reporting early delivery rates for 2010 & 2013
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