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- In 1998, the British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency introduced a revised Notice of Live Birth or Stillbirth which contained a box where physicians could specify vacuum as a mode of delivery. The addition of this box has increased reporting of vacuum assisted births. There were 2,136 births requiring vacuum assistance in 1999. In previous annual reports, forceps and vacuum were combined as modes of delivery.
- Approximately two thirds of 1999 live births were delivered spontaneously: 65.5% (27,333) were spontaneous vertex (head first) and 0.7% (287) were spontaneous breech (buttocks or feet first). One in twenty births required either the use of forceps (2,174 births) or vacuum (2,136).
- In 1999, more than one fifth of all live births (22.2%) were delivered by cesarean section (9,282) and almost two thirds of these (5,895) were first cesareans. The 1999 cesarean section rate, 222.38 per 1,000 live births, was higher than the rate of 207.86 for 1995-1999 (Appendix 3).
- Among teenage mothers (less than 20 years of age), one in eight live births (12.0% or 241 births) were delivered by cesarean section. Of these, only 5.4% (13) were repeat cesarean sections.
- One fifth (21.0%) of live births to mothers aged 20 to 34 years were delivered by cesarean section (6,785). Of these deliveries, 34.9% were repeat C-sections (2,371).
- For mothers aged 35 or older, more than one in three live births (30.2%) was delivered by cesarean section (2,256). Of these deliveries, 44.5% (1,003) were repeat C-sections.
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