Large reductions in cesarean delivery rates in China: a qualitative study on delivery decision-making in the era of the two-child policy

Table 1 Collected Hospital Data, 2007–2016

Jiangshan Maternity Hospital^a
	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Number of births						2531	2372	2649	2116	2703
Cesarean deliveries (% of births)						40%	40%	39%	37%	32%
Age > 35 years (% of births)						16%	20%	15%	11%	22%
Repeat CD (% of all CDs)						32%	35%	32%	40%	49%
Pain relief^b (% of all vaginal deliveries)						3%	15%	15%	29%	50%
Zhejiang Women’s Hospital
	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Number of births	10,106	10,271	10,961	11,414	12,090	14,801	14,332	18,115	14,598	20,534
Cesarean deliveries (% of births)	68%	67%	60%	54%	50%	51%	51%	46%	46%	44%
Age > 35 years (% of births)	7%	7%	8%	8%	8%	7%	10%	10%	16%	18%
Repeat CD (% of all CDs)	6%	7%	10%	12%	15%	18%	21%	30%	43%	51%
Epidurals^b (% of all vaginal deliveries)						39%	39%	31%	30%	26%
VBAC (% of eligible CDs)						2%	1%	1%	3%	5%

^aData from before 2012 from Jiangshan Maternity Hospital were unable to be collected. The approximate number of births and percentage of cesarean deliveries before 2012 were revealed anecdotally in interviews
^bThe pain relief data marked for Jiangshan includes the Traditional Chinese Medicine transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) after its implementation in 2015. Daytime epidural services have been available since 2011. For Zhejiang Women’s Hospital, only consecutive data for epidurals were reported, although they also offer other methods of pain relief and social support, such as doulas. Data from before 2012 were unavailable

ISSN: 1471-2393