Table 2.
Summary of meta-analyses
| Outcomes | K | N | Effect estimate | Heterogeneity | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RR | 95% CI | Z (p) | χ2 | p | I 2 | Tau2 | |||
| Midwife-Led Care vs. Comparator | |||||||||
| Overall Caesarean Section | 6 | 7784 | 0.83 | 0.73 to 0.96 | 2.63 (0.008) | 8.32 | 0.14 | 40% | 0.01 |
| Planned Caesarean Section | 4 | 5937 | 0.75 | 0.61 to 0.93 | 2.66 (0.008) | 1.19 | 0.76 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Unplanned Caesarean Section | 4 | 5937 | 0.87 | 0.73 to 1.03 | 1.65 (0.10) | 4.55 | 0.21 | 34% | 0.01 |
| Induction of Labour | 5 | 5498 | 0.91 | 0.79 to 1.04 | 1.43 (0.15) | 6.06 | 0.19 | 34% | 0.01 |
| Epidural | 6 | 7601 | 0.89 | 0.79 to 1.00 | 1.96 (0.05) | 10.82 | 0.06 | 54% | 0.01 |
| Labour Augmentation | 5 | 5498 | 0.97 | 0.73 to 1.29 | 0.23 (0.81) | 48.99 | < 0.00001 | 92% | 0.09 |
| Instrumental Vaginal Delivery | 4 | 6776 | 0.96 | 0.86 to 1.07 | 0.78 (0.44) | 1.82 | 0.61 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Episiotomy | 6 | 6816 | 0.84 | 0.74 to 0.95 | 2.87 (0.004) | 6.19 | 0.29 | 19% | 0.00 |
| Admission during Pregnancy | 4 | 5304 | 0.94 | 0.80 to 1.11 | 0.77 (0.44) | 7.06 | 0.07 | 58% | 0.02 |
| Apgar scores (< 7 at 5 min) | 3 | 4711 | 0.94 | 0.66 to 1.33 | 0.37 (0.71) | 0.88 | 0.64 | 0% | 0.00 |
| Admission to SCU/NICU | 5 | 6599 | 0.80 | 0.62 to 1.04 | 1.66 (0.10) | 8.54 | 0.07 | 53% | 0.04 |
| Continuous Midwifery Care vs. Comparator | |||||||||
| Overall Caesarean Section | 3 | 7428 | 0.85 | 0.59 to 1.23 | 0.88 (0.38) | 4.27 | 0.12 | 53% | 0.06 |
Abbreviations: K number of studies, N number of participants, RR Risk Ratio, CI Confidence Interval, Z test for overall effect