Obstetric and neonatal outcomes in a home-like birth centre: a case-control study.

PURPOSE: To compare the intervention rates associated with labor in low-risk women who began their labor in the "home-like birth centre" (HLBC) and the traditional labor ward (TLW).

METHODS: This retrospective study used data that were collected from January 2005 to June 2008, from women admitted to the HLBC (n = 316) and compared to a group of randomly selected low-risk women admitted to the TLW (n = 890) using the Baysian information criterion to select the best predictive model.

RESULTS: Women in the HLBC had spontaneous vaginal deliveries more often (88.6 vs. 82.8 %, p value 0.034) and perineal lesions less often (60.1 vs. 62.5 %, p value 0.013). The frequency of adverse neonatal outcomes did not differ statistically between the two groups, although the mean clamped at birth umbilical arterial pH level was higher in the HLBC group. The transfer rate from HLBC to TLW was 31.3 % of which 75.8 % were nulliparae.

CONCLUSIONS: It appears that women could benefit from HLBC care in settings such as the one studied. Larger observational studies are warranted to validate these results.