According to the paper, the World Health Organisation set optimal rates for Caes

Question

According to the paper, the World Health Organisation set optimal rates for Caesarean section to be 10 % – 15 %. Do any of the countries studied have a Caesarean rate as low as 15 %? Use a statistical method to justify your answer.   

The paper mentions the relationship between maternal age and rates of Caesarean section. In the comparison of Caesarean section rates between different countries, what kind of variable was maternal age expected to be? Explain your answer.

Löfling, L., Bröms, G., Bahmanyar, S., & Kieler, H. (2016). Maternal and infant characteristics: Differences and similarities between the Nordic countries and the US. Clinical Epidemiology, 8, 285-294.

Explanation / Answer

Confidence interval is one of the statistical method that can be used to test whether any countries have caserean rate as low as 15%. The hypotheses are:

H0:p=0.15 (cesaarean rate is as low as 15%)

H1:p=/=0.15 (cesarean rate is different from 15%)

Per rejection rule based on c.i, reject null hypothesis if confidence interval doesnot contain population proportion.

The 95% c.i for caesarean rate for US (all) is (32.1-32.2), the confidence interval doesnot contain 15%, thus reject null hypothesis and conclude that US countries do not have a casearean rate as low as 15%. Equivalently, the 95% c.i for casarean rate for Nordic countries is (17.9, 18). The c.i doesnot contain 15%, therefore, reject null hypothesis and conclude that Nordic countries do not have a casearean rate as low as 15%. The 95% c.i for casarean rate for US restricted is (35.6-35.7). The c.i doesnot contain 15%, therefore, reject null hypothesis and conclude that US restricted countries do not have a casearean rate as low as 15%.

It is suspected that maternal age influences the caesarean rate, or in other words, maternal age affects the caesarean rate. Therefore, maternal age is supposed to be the independent variable.

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