Caesarean delivery and neonatal mortality rates in 46 low- and middle-income countries: a propensity-score matching and meta-analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data

BACKGROUND: Previous research on the association between caesarean delivery (CD) and neonatal mortality has had methodological limitations and given conflicting results. We conducted a study to: (i) estimate the association between CD at the individual level and neonatal mortality rates (NMR) in 46 countries; and (ii) examine whether this association varies among countries according to country-level rates of CD or gross domestic product (GDP).