TY - JOUR
T1 - C-Sections, Obesity, and Healthcare Specialization: Evidence from Mexico
AU - Herrera-Almanza, Catalina
AU - Marquez-Padilla, Fernanda
AU - Prina, Silvia
N1 - Catalina Herrera-Almanza (corresponding author) is an assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; her email address is [email protected] . Fernanda Marquez-Padilla is an assistant professor at the Centro de Estudios Economicos, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico. Her email address is [email protected] . Silvia Prina is an associate professor at the Department of Economics, Northeastern University. Her email address is [email protected] . The authors thank Ana Costa-Ramón, Janet Currie, Susan Parker, Heather Royer, Felix Matthys; conference participants at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, AAEA, ASHECON, PAA, Colmex Seminar Series, and at the ITAM Alumni Conference; the editor; and three anonymous referees for helpful comments. We thank Ana Paola Paredes Rodriguez for outstanding research assistance. Catalina Herrera-Almanza thanks the International Seed Grant through the College of ACES Office of International Programs at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. All errors are our own. A is available with this article at The World Bank Economic Review website.
PY - 2024/2/1
Y1 - 2024/2/1
N2 - This study explores whether hospitals with higher increases in obesity levels have higher cesarean section (CS) rates and the consequential effects on maternal and newborn health in Mexico for 2008–2015. It models how changes in the obesity level of hospitals’ patient pools may affect the quantity and quality of care by focusing on the use of CS and the potential returns to specialization. And it creates a measure of hospital-level obesity, based on the fraction of obesity-related discharges for women of childbearing age. Exploiting temporal and hospital variation of this measure, results show that higher hospital-level obesity increases a woman’s probability of having a CS. Also, delivery-related birth outcomes improve: maternal mortality, birth injuries, and birth trauma decrease. The evidence is consistent with hospital-level specialization in CS leading to better birth outcomes.
AB - This study explores whether hospitals with higher increases in obesity levels have higher cesarean section (CS) rates and the consequential effects on maternal and newborn health in Mexico for 2008–2015. It models how changes in the obesity level of hospitals’ patient pools may affect the quantity and quality of care by focusing on the use of CS and the potential returns to specialization. And it creates a measure of hospital-level obesity, based on the fraction of obesity-related discharges for women of childbearing age. Exploiting temporal and hospital variation of this measure, results show that higher hospital-level obesity increases a woman’s probability of having a CS. Also, delivery-related birth outcomes improve: maternal mortality, birth injuries, and birth trauma decrease. The evidence is consistent with hospital-level specialization in CS leading to better birth outcomes.
KW - healthcare specialization
KW - newborn health
KW - maternal mortality
KW - obesity
KW - C-sections
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U2 - 10.1093/wber/lhad022
DO - 10.1093/wber/lhad022
M3 - Article
SN - 0258-6770
VL - 38
SP - 139
EP - 160
JO - World Bank Economic Review
JF - World Bank Economic Review
IS - 1
ER -