Some of the outcomes cited in your study1 seem to fit better under characteristics of the study populations. They look more like input (independent) variables than output (dependent) variables: pregnancy-induced hypertension, prolapsed cord and placenta previa. The absence of placenta previa in the home-delivery group, while prudent for the safety of mothers and babies, further detracts from the comparison of outcomes.
I was alerted to this important study by the CBC, whose editors might have been wise to put a question mark in their lead: “Home births safe as hospital births?: study.”
E. H. (Bert) Krikke Associate Professor Family Medicine University of Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Reference
- 1.Janssen PA, Lee SK, Ryan EM, Etches DJ, Farquharson DF, Peacock D, et al. Outcomes of planned home births versus planned hospital births after regulation of midwifery in British Columbia. CMAJ 2002;166(3):315-23. [PMC free article] [PubMed]