Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 28 Jun 2000

Vol. 522 No. 3

Written Answers. - Childbirth Statistics.

John Gormley

Question:

53 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Health and Children the figures on the number of induced births for each of the years 1997 to 2000; the reasons for inductions in hospitals; if his attention has been drawn to any negative side effects of such procedures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18423/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

The information requested by the Deputy is not routinely collected by my Department. However, I can supply the following information regarding the three Dublin maternity hospitals in the Eastern Regional Health Authority area.

	1997	1998	1999	2000 (toMay)
Number of induced births	4,355	4,446	5,079	2,412

I understand that the reasons for induction are many and arise for example from post dates, placental insufficiency, hypertension and patient request.

I am advised that inductions of labour can give rise to a higher risk of intervention following the procedure compared to spontaneous labour. This is evidenced by relatively high rates of caesarean section and longer labour. For example, in the case of one hospital the caesarean section rate in spontaneous labour in first time mothers is 5% compared with a caesarean section rate of 22% in induced labour.