The share of unscheduled cesarean deliveries in which patients received the antibiotic azithromycin rose from 2.2% to 39.6% over roughly a decade, and postpartum infections after those surgeries declined, according to an analysis of more than 1.6 million U.S. births published in JAMA. Researchers estimated that the change corresponded to roughly 6,000 fewer postpartum infections each year.
The study cannot prove the antibiotic caused the drop, but it suggests that results from a landmark 2016 clinical trial are showing up in everyday hospital care. The analysis tracked patients who received prenatal care and gave birth in health systems across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
