Birth data for 2018: Thousands of twins, 261 thirds and 9 quarters • Israeli birth age only climbs

• Illustration Illustration: GettyImages

Israel is on a downward trend in cesarean delivery - last year a record was recorded when only 17.4% of births were done by cesarean section.

The previous year saw a rate of 18.3%. This is the lowest rate since 2002 and nearly half in the United States, where 32% of births are performed by caesarean section. .

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Data: Mother and Fetal Medicine Society // Photo: GettyImages

The figures, which sum up births in Israel in 2018, also indicate that in Israel there were 184,094 births, an average of 504 births per day. In recent years, nursing practitioners have issued instructions to refrain from returning several fetuses in infertility treatment, due to the fact that multiple pregnancies have an increased incidence of prematurity and complications. The guidelines bore fruit and a decline in the number of births was recorded: in 2018 there were 3,733 births (mainly twins but also 261 thirds and 9 fourths) - a decrease of 235 births compared to the previous year. Another interesting statistic about Israeli maternity - the birth rate of older women has almost doubled. The number of mothers over the age of 45 increased from about 500 in 2010 to 900 in 2018 and the number of mothers aged 44-40 increased from 6,000 to about 9,000.

Almost 59% of women received an epidural at birth, compared with 50% in 2007. There are hospitals where about 80% of maternity patients receive epidural and hospitals where only about 30% of maternity patients receive.

The data were collected from 26 hospitals in Israel, but the hospitals could not be identified. Following a petition by the Freedom of Information movement, the mother and fetal medicine company is expected to reveal for the first time 6 comparative quality metrics in which hospital data will be presented.