Notes

2017 data are preliminary and based on nearly 100% of registered births occurring in calendar year 2017, which were received and processed as of October 2, 2018.

Data Source

Birth Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, New Jersey Department of Health

Definition

A vaginal delivery by a mother who had a cesarean for one or more previous deliveries.

Numerator

Number of births delivered vaginally after a previous cesarean

Denominator

Total number of live births to mothers who previously had a cesarean

Healthy People Objective: Reduce cesarean births among low-risk (full-term, singleton, vertex presentation) women: Prior cesarean birth

U.S. Target: 81.7 percent

How Are We Doing?

The vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) rate rose rapidly and steadily throughout the early 1990s but peaked in 1996 and began a rapid decline that lasted until 2008. The VBAC rate has been slowly but steadily increasing again since then. The VBAC rate among White mothers is significantly above that of other racial/ethnic groups and the VBAC rate among US-born mothers overall is above that of foreign-born mothers. VBACs are much more common among residents of Ocean, Camden, and Hunterdon Counties than elsewhere in New Jersey.

How Do We Compare With the U.S.?

The VBAC rate in New Jersey is lower than in the nation as a whole.