Causes and Consequences of Rising Cesarean Rates in Yucatec Maya Farmers

Sydney Tuller, Purdue University

Abstract

This project is concerned with obstetric complications and cesarean births in a Yucatec Maya community that has only recently began interacting with global market economies and Western biomedicine. This research engages with maternal health, reproductive biology, colonial histories, and the global trend of increasing cesarean section [CS] births. The Maya of Campeche, Mexico, are a short statured population [average adult female height 2010 = 143.2 cm] with historically low obstetric complications and maternal mortality. In the last 30 years, CS rates have risen to account for 25% of all births in this community. Over 70% of births currently take place in the hospital. Because extreme short stature for population has been linked to obstructed labor and birth complications, this project was designed to determine if stature is impacting the rising rate of CS. Reproductive outcomes and obstetric complications were modeled against height in three age cohorts of mothers using one-way ANOVA with a Bonferroni-post hoc test and univariate general linear models. No statistical evidence was found to indicate that stature is related to reproductive outcomes or obstetric complications; however, there is an association between short stature and likelihood of cesarean birth. Thisstudy employs a longitudinal dataset that represents over 50 years of reproductive histories though limited in statistical power. The dramatic change in birth mode in this population may be attributed to increased availability of biomedical resources, doctor-driven perceptions of indigenous women, and low capacity of rural public hospitals to serve numerous patients in labor. More data is needed on Yucatec Maya health, demography, and birth experiences as well as medical accounts of birth in Mexican hospitals.

Degree

M.Sc.

Advisors

Veile, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Public health

COinS