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Primary Cesarean Section Rates in Uninsured, Medicaid and Insured Populations of Predominantly Rural Northern New England
Author(s) -
Onion Daniel K.,
Meyer Daniel L.,
Wennberg David E.,
Soule David N.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.439
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1748-0361
pISSN - 0890-765X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-0361.1999.tb00604.x
Subject(s) - medicaid , socioeconomic status , demography , census tract , medicine , census , educational attainment , population , geography , environmental health , health care , economic growth , sociology , economics
Many studies in the United States during the past two decades have reported consistently lower cesarean section rates in women of lower socioeconomic status as defined by census tract, insurance status, or maternal level of educational attainment. This study sought to determine whether cesarean section rates in predominantly rural northern New England are lower for lower, compared with higher socioeconomic groups, as they are reported nationally and in more urban areas. Age‐adjusted, primary cesarean section rates for privately insured, Medicaid and uninsured women were calculated using 1990 to 1992 uniform hospital discharge data for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Age‐adjusted cesarean section rates for insured women (15.71 percent) were significantly higher than those for Medicaid (14.35 percent) and uninsured (12.85 percent) women. These differences in the cesarean section rate between the insured and poorer populations in northern New England are much less than those reported elsewhere in the country .