Birth problems mirror mothers’ class and age

Researchers from York University examined the cases of 18,000 babies born from 2000-2.

They found nine per cent of first-time teenage mothers each needed an emergency caesarean section but this rose to 30 per cent of those aged over 35.

First-time mothers from lower status households were one-and-a-half times more likely to need instrumental help with their delivery and twice as likely to have a planned caesarean.

Women with A-levels who had already given birth to one or more children were less likely to have planned caesareans compared with those with degrees.

Holly Essex, who headed the York study, said: “In this country there are significant variations in rates of caesaraean section between maternity units in different geographical areas and this research goes to show that it could be due in part to the characteristics of the population they serve.”