>However, Virginia R. Lupo, M.D., chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, said the problem with these types of studies is that they "compare apples and oranges."
"Women who have no risk factors do better, no matter where they are," Lupo explained.
This is a retrospective study where the authors had no control of who went where. What's needed is an RCT.
>For women without medical complications who can be served in either setting, the study concluded that midwife-directed prenatal and labor care results in equal or better outcomes for the mother and newborn.
Women with medical complications don't start at the birthing center to begin with. That's of course part of what I stated in the beginning that the data is corrected for at-risk patients. You compare the healthy people who choose birthing centers against the healthy people who go to hospitals. Unhealthy people only go to the hospitals, but they aren't counted against.
I stand corrected. That paper is pretty good, however it is only a single centre in DC. I went searching for others and did find some similar papers finding similar results.
>However, Virginia R. Lupo, M.D., chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, said the problem with these types of studies is that they "compare apples and oranges."
"Women who have no risk factors do better, no matter where they are," Lupo explained.
This is a retrospective study where the authors had no control of who went where. What's needed is an RCT.