Cesarean Rates by State, 2009

By Jill Arnold

Percent of babies born by cesarean delivery, each state: preliminary 2009

1	Louisiana	39.6
2t	New Jersey	39.4
2t	New York	39.4
4	Florida	38.1
5	Mississippi	37.8
6	West Virginia	36.0
7	Kentucky	35.9
8	Delaware	35.7
9t	Alabama	35.6
9t	Connecticut	35.6
11t	South Carolina	35.3
11t	Texas	35.3
13t	Arkansas	34.6
13t	Oklahoma	34.6
15	Virginia	34.3
16t	Nevada	33.8
16t	Tennessee	33.8
18	Georgia	33.6
19	Maryland	33.5
20	Massachusetts	33.4
21	California	33.0
22	Rhode Island	32.8
23	Michigan	32.1
24	Pennsylvania	31.8
25t	Missouri	31.7
25t	Nebraska	31.7
27	Illinois	31.5
18	North Carolina	31.2
19	Ohio	31.1
30	New Hampshire	30.8
31	Indiana	30.5
32	Iowa	30.3
33	Kansas	30.1
34t	Maine	29.6
34t	Montana	29.6
36	Oregon	29.4
37	North Dakota	29.3
38	Washington	29.2
39	Wyoming	28.1
40	Vermont	27.9
41t	Arizona	27.4
41t	Minnesota	27.4
43	Hawaii	27.0
44	Colorado	26.4
45	South Dakota	26.3
46	Wisconsin	25.8
47	Idaho	24.5
48	Alaska	23.8
49	Utah	22.9
50	New Mexico	22.8
United States		32.9

SOURCE:  National Vital Statistics System

From Births: Preliminary Data for 2009 (pdf):

The cesarean delivery rate rose to 32.9 percent in 2009, an increase of 2 percent and another record U.S. high.  The percentage of births delivered by cesarean has been rising steadily for over a decade, and is up nearly 60% since 1996.  

Between 2008 and 2009 cesarean delivery rates rose among women of all age groups 20 years and older, and all race and ethnicity groups.  The largest increase was among  non-Hispanic black women (up 3 percent); rates rose 1-2 percent among non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, AIAN and API women. In 2009, women 40 years and  older were as likely to have a cesarean as a vaginal delivery, that is, ½ of all births to women in this age group were in a cesarean delivery (data not tabulated).

Read more:

U.S. Cesarean Rate Reaches Record High, Rises for 13th Consecutive Year

United States Cesarean Rate, 1970 to 2009 

Comments

[Dreamy]

*smh*

I'm still looking for DC rates-- anyone got 'em?

[Jill]

D.C. is a no-go so far, unfortunately.

[Susan Peterson]

I really wonder what makes the difference between the merely shamefully high states and those whose rates are astronomical. (There are no states with low rates.) I wondered if there were a correlation with the red state/blue state map, but my preliminary investigation finds highest rate states among both red and blue, and relatively speaking low rate states also among both red and blue. It woiuld be interesting to plot these against , say, midwifery laws in each state, average age of first and last birth by state, obesity rates by state, educational levels by state, and so on, and see if one can find a correlation.

Among the NYS hospitals list you printed a little while ago, the only hospital which had a WHO acceptable C section rate was one where 78% of the babies were delivered by CNM's. Within a state one ought to be able to get stats for the population of the draw area of each hospital to be able to plot them against maternity stats of the hospital. You would be able to say things like, no, Hospital X, it is not because your patients overwhelmingly come from low socioeconomic groups with higher rates of obesity and comorbidities that you have a high C section rate and high infant morbidity/mortality because Hospital Y draws from a very similar population , and their rates are much better.
Stuff like that.

[ANaturalAdvocate]

Dreamy: Anywhere in particular you're looking for? I have a friend living right near there, and she found a few random places in the area, but nothing cohesive.

[Dana]

@Susan: That would be interesting, but as to the correlation between c-sections and midwifery laws, you would need to first determine the status of midwifery laws (legal v. illegal v. alegal; mandatory licensure v. no or open licensure; other various restrictions on practice and acceptance of patients) and somehow quantify and rank them. Some of these areas (legal v. alegal, and mandatory licensure) are areas of debate even supporters of midwifery practice. It would certainly make for an interesting, if convoluted, exercise.