¹ Preterm, low birth weight, and cesarean rates for each county and demographic: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. VitalStats (accessed February 10, 2012).

² Cost and hospital stays for preterm and low birth weight: Russel, et al. (2007) Cost of Hospitalization for Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infants in the United States. Pediatrics (120).

³ Infant mortality for preterm and low birth weight: Infant mortality statistics from the 2007 period linked birth/infant death data set. NVSR. 2011;59(6).

⁴ Healthy People 2020 Objectives

⁵ Costs and hospital stays for cesareans: HCUP Statistical Brief 110.

⁶ Cesareans and neonatal mortality: MacDorman, et al. (2006) Infant and Neonatal Mortality for Primary Cesarean and Vaginal Births to Women with “No Indicated Risk,” United States, 1998–2001 Birth Cohorts. Birth 33(3). Or see a summary of the report.

⁷ Underwood, et al. (2007) Cost, causes and rates of rehospitalization of preterm infants. Journal of Perinatology (27).