The evolving patient population at one of Europe's busiest maternity units

摘要

Irish society has undergone unprecedented change over the last decade. Economic boom saw people of many nationalities begin a new life in Ireland. Recent figures show that 420 000 non-nationals now reside in Ireland, representing more than 10% of the population. The majority of women that arrived in Ireland were of childbearing age, which placed additional demands on maternity services [1]. It has been reported previously that there are racial and ethnic disparities in both labor performance and cesare-an delivery rates [2,3]. The National Maternity Hospital (NMH) in Dublin is a tertiary referral university institution and one of Europe's busiest maternity units, with around 9000 deliveries each year [4]. The aim of the present study was to examine the changing nationalities of patients who delivered at the hospital between 2002 and 2009.