The number of babies delivered by caesarean section has increased fourfold in Ireland over the past 30 years.
This is a trend that is worrying many, but that becomes even more interesting in light of a new
study that claims the increase in C-sections deliveries is directly changing babies – and, as a result, the way women give birth.
The research,
published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, found that the sharp rise in C-sections since the 1950s and 1960s has apparently prompted babies to have larger heads.
But since evolution doesn't move very quickly, the birth canals of women have not yet adapted to this increase in head size, necessitating C-sections in more cases, the study suggests.
Meaning more C-section are indeed leading to even more C-sections.
This is what lead author of the study, Dr. Philipp Mitteroecker, had to say to
The Independent about the findings:
"It's not easy to foresee what this will mean for the future of humans and birth," Mitteroecker explains. "Disproportion may further increase."
But when asked if he thinks we will all have to give birth by C-section one day, the scientist is doubtful.
"I don't think that one day every baby needs to be delivered by C-sections. The selection towards larger babies is limited by the mother's metabolic capacity and also attenuated by modern medical treatment."
Mitteroecker added that newborns who are smaller in weight or premature "have high survival rates in industrialized countries." Speaking to
BBC News, he also said that C-sections and modern medicine have enabled women to survive difficult births that they may not have 100 years ago, but that women with small pelvises pass this down to their daughters:
"Women with a very narrow pelvis would not have survived birth 100 years ago. They do now and pass on their genes encoding for a narrow pelvis to their daughters."
Another consultant obstetrician who was interviewed by the
BBC thinks obesity and diabetes are to blame when it comes to the sharp rise in section births.
"I think what is important to take into the [question of] evolution is that things like diabetes are much more common at a younger age so we see many more women of reproductive age who have diabetes," Daghni Rajasingam explains. "That has consequences as to whether or not they may need a [C-section]. In addition, the rates of obesity are increasing so more and more women of reproductive age have a higher body mass index and this again has an impact on [C-section] rates."
In other words, as women of childbearing age are getting heavier and less physically active, the number of C-section birth will continue to climb, Rajasingam thinks.
