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
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