Home births for women with low-risk pregnancies don't increase risk of complications, Canadian study shows

A new Canadian study has shown that home births for women having low-risk pregnancies don't raise the risk of complications. However, in the US, home births do not follow similar standards as Canada. Thus experts said that it can be believed that results could vary here.

The huge study was reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It brought out a comparison between 11,493 planned home births and 11,493 planned hospital births in Ontario. In the time period of 3 years, the scientists observed vulnerability to stillbirth, neonatal death and serious issues among women, who have low-risk pregnancies.

Researchers found that nearly 75% of the women who chose home births were able to deliver the baby, and that 8% of the home-birth mothers required emergency medical services.

Study author Dr. Eileen Hutton, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Midwifery Education Program at McMaster University in Ontario, wrote, “Among women who intended to birth at home with midwives in Ontario, the risk of stillbirth, neonatal death or serious neonatal morbidity was low and did not differ from midwifery clients who chose hospital birth”.

The study has also discovered that roughly 97% of women who planned hospital birth were successful in delivering their babies there, and just 1.7% in that group needed emergency medical care. Both first-time moms and women, who had given birth before participated in the study.

The authors mentioned that the research has suggested that women with low-risk pregnancies who deliver baby at home with a midwife’s assistance were not at a raised risk of harm to the baby in comparison to a planned hospital visit.