| Planned home birth | Planned hospital birth | p-value |
---|---|---|---|
n = 1329 | n = 829 |  | |
Baseline characteristics | |||
 Parity, n (%) |  |  | < 0.001 |
  Primiparous | 577 (42.1) | 414 (49.9) |  |
  Multiparous | 795 (57.9) | 415 (50.1) |  |
 Gestational age, n (%) |  |  | 0.19 |
  37 weeks | 38 (2.8) | 33 (4.0) |  |
  38–40 weeks | 1064 (77.6) | 648 (77.6) |  |
  41 weeks | 270 (19.7) | 148 (17.9) |  |
 Maternal age, n (%) |  |  | 0.02 |
   < 25 years | 105 (7.7) | 74 (9.3) |  |
  25–35 years | 1040 (75.8) | 583 (70.3) |  |
   > 35 years | 227 (16.5) | 172 (20.7) |  |
 Ethnic background, n (%) |  |  | < 0.001 |
  Dutch | 1244 (90.9) | 645 (78.1) |  |
  Western background | 74 (5.4) | 87 (10.5) |  |
  Non-western background | 51 (3.7) | 94 (11.4) |  |
 Socioeconomic position, n (%) |  |  | 0.57 |
  1st tertile | 353 (25.8) | 228 (27.7) |  |
  2nd tertile | 645 (47.2) | 386 (46.8) |  |
  3rd tertile | 369 (27.0) | 210 (25.5) |  |
Maternal outcomes and interventions | |||
 Experience of labour pain, mean (sd) |  |  |  |
  first stage | 7.2 (2.0) | 7.7 (1.9) | < 0.001 |
  second stage | 6.9 (2.2) | 7.2 (2.2) | 0.001 |
 General rating of care by caregiver, mean (sd) | 9.1 (1.1) | 8.9 (1.3) | 0.001 |
 Quality of treatment, mean (sd) | 3.9 (0.3) | 3.8 (0.4) | < 0.001 |
 Transfer during labour, n (% referred) | 435 (31.7) | 390 (47.0) | < 0.001 |
 Medical pain reliefa, n (% yes) | 141 (10.3) | 184 (22.4) | < 0.001 |
 Instrumental/ operative delivery, n (%) |  |  | 0.02 |
  Vacuum−/ forceps extraction | 123 (9.0) | 99 (12.0) |  |
  Secondary caesarean section | 48 (3.5) | 39 (4.7) |  |
 Augmentation, n (% yes) | 205 (14.9) | 171 (20.7) | 0.001 |
Neonatal outcomes | |||
 Apgar score < 7, n (%) | 8 (0.6) | 7 (0.8) | 0.47 |
 Complications directly postpartum, n (%) | 21 (1.6) | 14 (1.8) | 0.72 |