IIT-M study reveals surge in C-section in TN during 2016-21

CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) researchers have discovered a sharp uptick in the number of caesarean section (C-section) deliveries in Tamil Nadu and across the country between 2016 and 2021.

“An in-depth analysis of Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh revealed that even though both pregnancy complications and high-risk fertility behaviour were more prevalent in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu had the higher prevalence of C-sections,” said a release from IIT-M on Monday.

Elaborating on the findings and their implications for policymakers, VR Muraleedharan,

a professor of IIT-M, said, “A key finding was that the place of delivery (public or a private facility) had the greatest impact on whether the delivery was by C-section, implying ‘clinical need’ factors were not necessarily the reason for surgical deliveries.

“Across India and Chhattisgarh, the non-poor were more likely to opt for C-sections, while in Tamil Nadu, the case was surprisingly different, as the poor were more likely to have C-sections in private hospitals.”

The prevalence of C-sections across India increased from 17.2% to 21.5% in the five years leading up to 2021. In the private sector, these numbers stand at 43.1% (2016) and 49.7% (2021), meaning nearly one in two deliveries in the private sector is a C-section.

This increase could be attributed to several factors.

The researchers found that better-educated urban women were more likely to deliver by C-section, suggesting greater autonomy and better access to healthcare facilities play a role in the surge in C-sections.

Factors that could justify C-sections – the mother’s age being less than 18 or greater than 34; the interval between births being less than 24 months or the child being the fourth or more born to a woman – are considered high-risk fertility behaviour.