Objective  To compare perinatal mortality and severe perinatal morbidity between planned home and planned hospital births, among low‐risk women who started their labour in primary care. Design  A nationwide cohort study. Setting  The entire Netherlands. Population  A total of 529 688 low‐risk women who were in primary midwife‐led care at the onset of labour. Of these, 321 307 (60.7%) intended to give birth at home, 163 261 (30.8%) planned to give birth in hospital and for 45 120 (8.5%), the intended place of birth was unknown. Methods  Analysis of national perinatal and neonatal registration data, over a period of 7 years. Logistic regression analysis was used to control for differences in baseline characteristics. Main outcome measures  Intrapartum death, intrapartum and neonatal death within 24 hours after birth, intrapartum and neonatal death within 7 days and neonatal admission to an intensive care unit. Results  No significant differences were found between planned home and planned hospital birth (adjusted relative risks and 95% confidence intervals: intrapartum death 0.97 (0.69 to 1.37), intrapartum death and neonatal death during the first 24 hours 1.02 (0.77 to 1.36), intrapartum death and neonatal death up to 7 days 1.00 (0.78 to 1.27), admission to neonatal intensive care unit 1.00 (0.86 to 1.16). Conclusions  This study shows that planning a home birth does not increase the risks of perinatal mortality and severe perinatal morbidity among low‐risk women, provided the maternity care system facilitates this choice through the availability of well‐trained midwives and through a good transportation and referral system.

Objective To compare rates of adverse perinatal outcomes between planned home births versus planned hospital births.Design A nationwide cohort study.Setting The Netherlands.Population Low-risk women in midwife-led care at the onset of labour.Methods Analysis of national registration data.Main outcome measures Intrapartum and neonatal death, Apgar scores, and admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) within 28 days of birth.Results Of the total of 814 979 women, 466 112 had a planned home birth and 276 958 had a planned hospital birth. For 71 909 women, their planned place of birth was unknown. The combined intrapartum and neonatal death rates up to 28 days after birth, including cases with discrepancies in the registration of the moment of death, were: for nulliparous women, 1.02& for planned home births versus 1.09& for planned hospital births, adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.99, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.79-1.24; and for parous women, 0.59& versus 0.58&, aOR 1.16, 95% CI 0.87-1.55. The rates of NICU admissions and low Apgar scores did not significantly differ among nulliparous women (NICU admissions up to 28 days, 3.41& versus 3.61&, aOR 1.05, 95% CI 0.92-1.18). Among parous women the rates of Apgar scores below seven and NICU admissions were significantly lower among planned home births (NICU admissions up to 28 days, 1.36 versus 1.95&, aOR 0.79, 95% CI 0.66-0.93).Conclusions We found no increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes for planned home births among low-risk women. Our results may only apply to regions where home births are well integrated into the maternity care system.

BackgroundMother-to-infant bonding is defined as the emotional tie experienced by a mother towards her child, which is considered to be important for the socio-emotional development of the child. Numerous studies on the correlates of both prenatal and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality have been published over the last decades. An up-to-date systematic review of these correlates is lacking, however.ObjectiveTo systematically review correlates of prenatal and postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality in the general population, in order to enable targeted interventions.MethodsMEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and PsychINFO were searched through May 2018. Reference checks were performed. Case-control, cross-sectional or longitudinal cohort studies written in English, German, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian, French or Dutch defining mother-to-infant bonding quality as stipulated in the protocol (PROSPERO CRD42016040183) were included. Two investigators independently reviewed abstracts, full-text articles and extracted data. Methodological quality was assessed using the National Institute of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-sectional studies and was rated accordingly as poor, fair or good. Clinical and methodological heterogeneity were examined.Main results131 studies were included. Quality was fair for 20 studies, and poor for 111 studies. Among 123 correlates identified, 3 were consistently associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality: 1) duration of gestation at assessment was positively associated with prenatal bonding quality, 2) depressive symptoms were negatively associated with postnatal mother-to-infant bonding quality, and 3) mother-to-infant bonding quality earlier in pregnancy or postpartum was positively associated with mother-to-infant bonding quality later in time.ConclusionOur review suggests that professionals involved in maternal health care should consider monitoring mother-to-infant bonding already during pregnancy. Future research should evaluate whether interventions aimed at depressive symptoms help to promote mother-to-infant bonding quality. More high-quality research on correlates for which inconsistent results were found is needed.

Background Variations in intervention rates, without subsequent reductions in adverse outcomes, can indicate overuse. We studied variations in and associations between commonly used childbirth interventions and adverse outcomes, adjusted for population characteristics. Methods and findings In this multinational cross-sectional study, existing data on 4,729,307 singleton births at �37 weeks in 2013 from Finland,

ObjectivesTo investigate the effectiveness of routine ultrasonography in the third trimester in reducing adverse perinatal outcomes in low risk pregnancies compared with usual care and the effect of this policy on maternal outcomes and obstetric interventions.DesignPragmatic, multicentre, stepped wedge cluster randomised trial.Setting60 midwifery practices in the Netherlands.Participants13 046 women aged 16 years or older with a low risk singleton pregnancy.Interventions60 midwifery practices offered usual care (serial fundal height measurements with clinically indicated ultrasonography). After 3, 7, and 10 months, a third of the practices were randomised to the intervention strategy. As well as receiving usual care, women in the intervention strategy were offered two routine biometry scans at 28-30 and 34-36 weeks’ gestation. The same multidisciplinary protocol for detecting and managing fetal growth restriction was used in both strategies.Main outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure was a composite of severe adverse perinatal outcomes: perinatal death, Apgar score <4, impaired consciousness, asphyxia, seizures, assisted ventilation, septicaemia, meningitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intraventricular haemorrhage, periventricular leucomalacia, or necrotising enterocolitis. Secondary outcomes were two composite measures of severe maternal morbidity, and spontaneous labour and birth.ResultsBetween 1 February 2015 and 29 February 2016, 60 midwifery practices enrolled 13 520 women in mid-pregnancy (mean 22.8 (SD 2.4) weeks’ gestation). 13 046 women (intervention n=7067, usual care n=5979) with data based on the national Dutch perinatal registry or hospital records were included in the analyses. Small for gestational age at birth was significantly more often detected in the intervention group than in the usual care group (179 of 556 (32%) v 78 of 407 (19%), P<0.001). The incidence of severe adverse perinatal outcomes was 1.7% (n=118) for the intervention strategy and 1.8% (n=106) for usual care. After adjustment for confounders, the difference between the groups was not significant (odds ratio 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.70 to 1.20). The intervention strategy showed a higher incidence of induction of labour (1.16, 1.04 to 1.30) and a lower incidence of augmentation of labour (0.78, 0.71 to 0.85). Maternal outcomes and other obstetric interventions did not differ between the strategies.ConclusionIn low risk pregnancies, routine ultrasonography in the third trimester along with clinically indicated ultrasonography was associated with higher antenatal detection of small for gestational age fetuses but not with a reduced incidence of severe adverse perinatal outcomes compared with usual care alone. The findings do not support routine ultrasonography in the third trimester for low risk pregnancies.Trial registrationNetherlands Trial Register NTR4367.