Cesarean section in present-day obstetrics. Presidential address.

Two thousand five hundred and sixty-three cesarean sections performed at Charlotte Memorial Hospital during 1963 through the first six months of 1975 were reviewed. The cesarean section rate was 6 per cent. The results of two earlier studies, starting with the opening of the hospital in 1940, were compared. The total number of cesarean sections from 1940 through 1975 was 3,717. The present study shows that significant improvement has been made in reducing cesarean section deaths, morbidity, and complications, as well as fetal deaths. There have been no maternal deaths in the last 2,225 cesarean sections. Questionnaire returns from 50 representative medical schools and obstetricians throughout the United States discuss the increased cesarean section rate, the reasons for the increase, and the predicted cesarean section incidence of the future.