Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective Financial incentives associated with private insurance may encourage healthcare providers to perform more caesarean sections. We therefore sought to determine the association of private insurance and odds of caesarean section.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources MEDLINE,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ilir Hoxha, Medina Braha, Lamprini Syrogiannouli, David C Goodman, Peter Jüni, Bruno R da Costa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2017-08-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016600.full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1823858071432069120
author Ilir Hoxha
Medina Braha
Lamprini Syrogiannouli
David C Goodman
Peter Jüni
Bruno R da Costa
author_facet Ilir Hoxha
Medina Braha
Lamprini Syrogiannouli
David C Goodman
Peter Jüni
Bruno R da Costa
author_sort Ilir Hoxha
collection DOAJ
description Objective Financial incentives associated with private insurance may encourage healthcare providers to perform more caesarean sections. We therefore sought to determine the association of private insurance and odds of caesarean section.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources MEDLINE, Embase and The Cochrane Library from the first year of records through August 2016.Eligibility criteria We included studies that reported data to allow the calculation of OR of caesarean section of privately insured as compared with publicly insured women.Outcomes The prespecified primary outcome was the adjusted OR of births delivered by caesarean section of women covered with private insurance as compared with women covered with public insurance. The prespecified secondary outcome was the crude OR of births delivered by caesarean section of women covered with private insurance as compared with women covered with public insurance.Results Eighteen articles describing 21 separate studies in 12.9 million women were included in this study. In a meta-analysis of 13 studies, the adjusted odds of delivery by caesarean section was 1.13 higher among privately insured women as compared with women with public insurance coverage (95% CI 1.07 to 1.18) with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ2=0.006). The meta-analysis of crude estimates from 12 studies revealed a somewhat more pronounced association (pooled OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.44) with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ2=0.011).Conclusions Caesarean sections are more likely to be performed in privately insured women as compared with women using public health insurance coverage. Although this effect is small on average and variable in its magnitude, it is present in all analyses we performed.
format Article
id doaj-art-aa6d40aa8bb749d2adb230c28680f5b1
institution Kabale University
issn 2044-6055
language English
publishDate 2017-08-01
publisher BMJ Publishing Group
record_format Article
series BMJ Open
spelling doaj-art-aa6d40aa8bb749d2adb230c28680f5b12025-02-11T15:30:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552017-08-017810.1136/bmjopen-2017-016600Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysisIlir Hoxha0Medina Braha1Lamprini Syrogiannouli2David C Goodman3Peter Jüni4Bruno R da Costa54 Evidence Synthesis Group, Prishtina, Kosovo4 International Business College Mitrovica, Mitrovica, KosovoInstitute of Primary Health Care (BIHAM), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerlandprofessor of pediatrics and of community and family medicinehead of division2 Institute of Primary Health Care, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandObjective Financial incentives associated with private insurance may encourage healthcare providers to perform more caesarean sections. We therefore sought to determine the association of private insurance and odds of caesarean section.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources MEDLINE, Embase and The Cochrane Library from the first year of records through August 2016.Eligibility criteria We included studies that reported data to allow the calculation of OR of caesarean section of privately insured as compared with publicly insured women.Outcomes The prespecified primary outcome was the adjusted OR of births delivered by caesarean section of women covered with private insurance as compared with women covered with public insurance. The prespecified secondary outcome was the crude OR of births delivered by caesarean section of women covered with private insurance as compared with women covered with public insurance.Results Eighteen articles describing 21 separate studies in 12.9 million women were included in this study. In a meta-analysis of 13 studies, the adjusted odds of delivery by caesarean section was 1.13 higher among privately insured women as compared with women with public insurance coverage (95% CI 1.07 to 1.18) with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ2=0.006). The meta-analysis of crude estimates from 12 studies revealed a somewhat more pronounced association (pooled OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.44) with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ2=0.011).Conclusions Caesarean sections are more likely to be performed in privately insured women as compared with women using public health insurance coverage. Although this effect is small on average and variable in its magnitude, it is present in all analyses we performed.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016600.full
spellingShingle Ilir Hoxha
Medina Braha
Lamprini Syrogiannouli
David C Goodman
Peter Jüni
Bruno R da Costa
Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis
BMJ Open
title Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis
title_fullStr Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis
title_short Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis
title_sort caesarean sections and private insurance systematic review and meta analysis
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016600.full
work_keys_str_mv AT ilirhoxha caesareansectionsandprivateinsurancesystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT medinabraha caesareansectionsandprivateinsurancesystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT lamprinisyrogiannouli caesareansectionsandprivateinsurancesystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT davidcgoodman caesareansectionsandprivateinsurancesystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT peterjuni caesareansectionsandprivateinsurancesystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT brunordacosta caesareansectionsandprivateinsurancesystematicreviewandmetaanalysis