Prenatal monitoring in upstate New York.

In upstate New York, birth certificates of all babies born in hospitals include response to a question on procedures used in fetal monitoring. During the first six months of 1978, some form of monitoring was reported on 47 per cent of all live births in hospitals, 33.6 per cent being monitored externally. The primary cesarean section rate in monitored women was over twice that among those not monitored.