By Dana Sullivan

Women who are planning for a repeat Cesarean delivery will want to make sure their physician knows about a recent study: Babies who are delivered earlier than at the 39-week mark are up to twice as likely as babies born after that point to have serious complications. The complications can include respiratory distress that results in NICU admission.

Researchers at University of Alabama in Birmingham discovered the risk when they studied the birth records of 13,258 women who had elective repeat cesarean at 19 different health centers in the United States between 1999 and 2002. They found that babies delivered at 37 or 38 weeks without a medical or obstetric need were at significant risk for serious complications.

Because the c-section rate has risen so dramatically in the United States -- from 20.7 percent in 1996 to 31.1 percent in 2006 – physicians and parents are wise to be concerned. One of the researchers, Alan T.N. Tita, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said in a press release, "Because elective cesareans can be scheduled to accommodate patient and physician convenience, there is a risk that they may be performed earlier than is appropriate." Dr. Tita and his colleague's research was published in the January 8, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. He added that these findings, along with other studies, confirm the importance of not delivering a baby before 39 weeks just for the sake of convenience.