TY - JOUR
T1 - Can Caesarean section improve child and maternal health? The case of breech babies
AU - Jensen, Vibeke Myrup
AU - Wüst, Miriam
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - This paper examines the health effects of Caesarean section (CS) for children and their mothers. We use exogenous variation in the probability of CS in a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Using administrative Danish data, we exploit an information shock for obstetricians that sharply altered CS rates for breech babies. We find that CS decreases the child's probability of having a low APGAR score and the number of family doctor visits in the first year of life. We find no significant effects for severe neonatal morbidity or hospitalizations. While mothers are hospitalized longer after birth, we find no effects of CS for maternal post-birth complications or infections. Although the change in mode of delivery for the marginal breech babies increases direct costs, the health benefits show that CS is the safest option for these children.
AB - This paper examines the health effects of Caesarean section (CS) for children and their mothers. We use exogenous variation in the probability of CS in a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Using administrative Danish data, we exploit an information shock for obstetricians that sharply altered CS rates for breech babies. We find that CS decreases the child's probability of having a low APGAR score and the number of family doctor visits in the first year of life. We find no significant effects for severe neonatal morbidity or hospitalizations. While mothers are hospitalized longer after birth, we find no effects of CS for maternal post-birth complications or infections. Although the change in mode of delivery for the marginal breech babies increases direct costs, the health benefits show that CS is the safest option for these children.
KW - Caesarean section
KW - Child health
KW - Maternal health
KW - Procedure use
KW - Regression discontinuity design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84920938868&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.07.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.07.004
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 25179865
AN - SCOPUS:84920938868
SN - 0167-6296
VL - 39
SP - 289
EP - 302
JO - Journal of Health Economics
JF - Journal of Health Economics
ER -
