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Using 1980 National Hospital Discharge Survey data, complications reported for cesarean and non-cesarean deliveries coded by the Ninth Revision ICD-CM are compared. While over 16 per cent of all deliveries in 1980 were by C-section. 94 per cent of the deliveries where maternal-infant disproportion was noted were by C-section, and this complication was noted in one-fourth of all C-section deliveries. Similarly, where malposition or malpresentation of the fetus was evident. 59 per cent oF the mothers were delivered by C-section, and this complication was noted in one-sixth of all C-section deliveries. C-sections were also associated with placenta praevia, pre-eclampsia, infections of the genito-urinary tract, anemia, multiple births, and were almost universal for mothers who had had a previous C-section delivery. Competing explanations for the rise in C-sections from 5.5 per cent of deliveries in 1970 to 16.5 per cent in 1980 are discussed in the context of these findings. (Am J Public Health 1983: 73:856-860.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National Hospital Discharge Survey data indicate that the overall postpartum sterilization rate per 100 deliveries increased by 75 per cent from 4.0 in 1970 to 7.0 in 1975; by type of delivery, rates lose from 18.0 per 100 cesarean section deliveries and 3.2 for all other deliveries in 1970 to 19.0 and 5.0 respectively in 1975. The South had the highest postpartum sterilization rates overall. Deliveries to older mothers and cesarean section deliveries in hospitals with less than 100 beds were more often characterized by higher sterilization rates. (Am J Public Health 1981:71-1258-1261.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]