JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Planned cesarean delivery comprises a significant proportion of births globally, with combined rates of planned and unscheduled cesarean delivery in a number of regions approaching 50%. Observational studies have shown that offspring born by cesarean delivery are at increased risk of ill health in childhood, but these studies have been unable to adjust for some key confounding variables. Additionally, risk of death beyond the neonatal period has not yet been reported for offspring born by planned cesarean delivery. ⋯ Among offspring of women with first births in Scotland between 1993 and 2007, planned cesarean delivery compared with vaginal delivery (but not compared with unscheduled cesarean delivery) was associated with a small absolute increased risk of asthma requiring hospital admission, salbutamol inhaler prescription at age 5 years, and all-cause death by age 21 years. Further investigation is needed to understand whether the observed associations are causal.