«among low - risk women,
planned home births result in low rates of interventions without an increase in adverse outcomes for mothers and babies.»
In today's peer - reviewed Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health (JMWH), a landmark study confirms that among low - risk women,
planned home births result in low rates of interventions without an increase in adverse outcomes for mothers and babies.
«
Planned home births result in low rates of interventions without an increase in adverse outcomes for mothers and babies,» Simkins boasts.
The study reviewed the births of nearly 17,000 women and found that, among low - risk women,
planned home births result in low rates of birth interventions without an increase in adverse outcomes for mothers and newborns.
These findings follow earlier research by Janssen that demonstrated that
planned home births resulted in fewer interventions and similar rates of adverse newborn outcomes compared to planned hospital births among women who met the criteria for home births.
Not exact matches
The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists emphasized the
results of the Wax study in its official statement on homebirth, siting that «Women inquiring about
planned home birth should be informed of its risks and benefits based on recent evidence.
Study
results provide evidence that mortality outcomes in
planned home birth are not significantly different compared to
planned hospital
birth, among 693,592 women with singleton
births in the Netherlands.
If so, this self selection may have
resulted in better outcomes among women with
planned home birth.
Results: 50 perinatal deaths occurred in 7002
planned home births in Australia during 1985 - 90: 7.1 per 1000 (95 % confidence interval 5.2 to 9.1) according to Australian definitions and 6.4 per 1000 (4.6 to 8.3) according to World Health Organisation definitions.
There was, however, an increased incidence of adverse perinatal outcome associated with
planned birth at
home in nulliparous low risk women,
resulting in the probability of it being the most cost effective option at a cost effectiveness threshold of # 20000 declining to 0.63.
There was, however, an increased incidence of adverse perinatal outcomes associated with
planned birth at
home in nulliparous low risk women,
resulting in the probability of it being the most cost effective option at a threshold of # 20000 declining to 0.63.
Hutton et al: Quite literally, the trend continued, in that the next study was also Canadian: «Outcomes associated with
planned home and
planned hospital
births in low - risk women attended by midwives in Ontario, Canada, 2003 - 2006,» not surprisingly shows similar
results to the Janssen study.
It could be argued that unplanned
home births are similar to
planned home births which were transferred to hospital during labour (because
birth did not take place in the intended location), and that not getting to hospital in time is a risk of
planning a hospital
birth, and for this reason we have run the analysis both with and without unplanned
home births (see «
results» section).
Future research should also attempt to establish whether or not these
results also apply to more life - threatening categories of PPH (e.g. > 1,500 ml of blood lost), and whether the lower incidence of PPH among
planned home births translates to fewer cases of PPH - related severe morbidity.
«This study adds to the large and growing body of research that has found that
planned home birth with a midwife is not only safe for babies and mothers with low - risk pregnancies, but
results in health and cost benefits that reach far beyond one pregnancy.»
Results: The rate of perinatal death per 1000
births was 0.35 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.00 — 1.03) in the group of
planned home births; the rate in the group of
planned hospital
births was 0.57 (95 % CI 0.00 — 1.43) among women attended by a midwife and 0.64 (95 % CI 0.00 — 1.56) among those attended by a physician.
RESULTS: The rate of perinatal death per 1000
births was 0.35 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.00 - 1.03) in the group of
planned home births; the rate in the group of
planned hospital
births was 0.57 (95 % CI 0.00 - 1.43) among women attended by a midwife and 0.64 (95 % CI 0.00 - 1.56) among those attended by a physician.
Including these women among hospital
births would bias the
results of
planned hospital
births negatively and
home births positively.
The authors» main argument against the proven cost - effectiveness of
planned home birth is that «the lifetime costs of supporting the neurologically disabled children who will
result from
planned home birth» have not been factored in, nor have the supposedly increased rates of death.
Not only is this unfortunate because of a lack of people to share experiences /
plans with, but the
result also is that more time is spent on preparing for a hospital
birth than on the details of what it's like to be preparing for a
planned home birth.