Title: Modelling numbers of births by day of the week in relation to onset of labour and mode of giving birth in England 2005–2014

Mario Cortina Borja, in collaboration with Professor Alison Macfarlane, Ms Nirupa Dattani, Dr Miranda Dodwell, Mr Rod Gibson, Dr Gill Harper, Dr Peter Martin and Dr Mary Newburn

Abstract

Maternity care has to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is known that obstetric intervention can influence the time of birth, but no previous analysis at a national level in England has yet investigated in detail the ways in which the day and time of birth varies by onset of labour and mode of giving birth. We linked data from birth registration, birth notification, and Maternity Hospital Episode Statistics and analysed 5,093,615 singleton births in NHS maternity units in England from 2005 to 2014. We built statistical models to establish how patterns of timing of birth vary by onset of labour, mode of giving birth and gestational age. We found that the timing of birth by time of day and day of the week varies considerably by onset of labour and mode of birth. These patterns have implications for midwifery and medical staffing.