Title |
Theory of obstetrics: An epidemiologic framework for justifying medically indicated early delivery
|
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Published in |
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, March 2007
|
DOI | 10.1186/1471-2393-7-4 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
K S Joseph |
Abstract |
Modern obstetrics is faced with a serious paradox. Obstetric practice is becoming increasingly interventionist based on empirical evidence but without a theoretical basis for such intervention. Whereas obstetric models of perinatal death show that mortality declines exponentially with increasing gestational duration, temporal increases in medically indicated labour induction and cesarean delivery have resulted in rising rates of preterm birth and declining rates of postterm birth. Other problems include a disconnection between patterns of gestational age-specific growth restriction (constant across gestation) and gestational age-specific perinatal mortality (exponential decline with increasing duration) and the paradox of intersecting perinatal mortality curves (low birth weight infants of smokers have lower neonatal mortality rates than the low birth weight infants of non-smokers). |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Germany | 1 | 1% |
Italy | 1 | 1% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Spain | 1 | 1% |
United States | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 80 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 16 | 19% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 15 | 17% |
Researcher | 10 | 12% |
Other | 6 | 7% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 6% |
Other | 17 | 20% |
Unknown | 17 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 43 | 50% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 9 | 10% |
Social Sciences | 6 | 7% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 3% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 2 | 2% |
Other | 7 | 8% |
Unknown | 16 | 19% |