"You’re weighing a baby in the NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] and the potential for maternal complications, and those risks may be weighed differently by different people," she said, adding that this risk also varies depending on whether the delivery is at an academic center or a community hospital.
Finally, another attendee said the finding that institutions with high rates of repeat cesareans before 39 weeks are doing fewer emergency cesarean deliveries implies that obstetricians should be performing more cesareans before 39 weeks.
Dr. Hutcheon said, "I’m not trying to make the case that we should be doing more early-term elective cesarean deliveries. I think the point is more that we need to be more aware that if we’re introducing policies to try to shift the timing of delivery, this is going to be a side effect. And we need to plan for it better ... and to evaluate our policies to see if there are any adverse effects."
Perinatal Services BC sponsored the study. Dr. Hutcheon and her coauthors reported no conflicts.