Researchers analyzed data from roughly 750,000 obstetrical deliveries in 2010 using multivariable logistic regression models. Hospitals were classified as having low, average or high performance based on the risk a patient had of experiencing a major complication during childbirth.
Women delivering vaginally at a low-performing hospital had twice the rate of major complications (22.55 percent) compared with women giving birth at a high-performing hospital (10.42 percent). Maternal hemorrhage and vaginal lacerations had the largest absolute differences in complication rates between low- and high-performing hospitals.
Additionally, women undergoing cesarean sections were nearly five times more likely to experience a major complication at a low-performing hospital (20.93 percent) compared with a high-performing hospital (4.37 percent).
“Obstetrical outcomes vary widely across hospitals in the United States,” the study authors concluded. “This information should spur clinicians, hospital administrators and policymakers to develop comprehensive quality metrics and invest in the necessary data infrastructure to measure and publicly report historical obstetrical outcomes.”
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