Institutional Factors and Cesarean Section Rates in Santa Catarina, Brazil

A cross-sectional study based on data from the Sistema de Informações sobre Nascidos Vivos (SINASC) for the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The dataset covers 61,278 births across 61 maternity services in six municipalities. The research was authored by Paulo Fontoura Freitas and investigates the association between institutional factors and cesarean section rates.

Use Cases

• Analyzing disparities in cesarean section rates based on hospital type (public vs. private) as described in the abstract.
• Investigating the relationship between maternal social conditions (e.g., race, prenatal care attendance) and birth outcomes.
• Modeling cesarean prevalence ratios (PR) for different demographic groups using robust Cox regression methods mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Includes 61,278 birth records, providing a substantial sample size for analysis.
• Compares cesarean rates between public (45.1%) and private (89%) maternity facilities, offering a clear contrast.
• Uses adjusted prevalence ratios to control for confounders, as noted in the methodology.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is known, but specific data features and variable definitions are not detailed in the provided metadata.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Sistema de Informações sobre Nascidos Vivos (SINASC)

Collection Method

Cross-sectional study using data from six municipalities with the largest number of births from six macroregional areas.

Geography

State of Santa Catarina, Brazil