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Obstetric Outcomes at the Birth Place in Menlo Park: The First Seven Years
Author(s) -
Eakins Pamela S.,
O'Reilly Wenda Brewster,
May Linda J.,
Hopkins Joseph
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
birth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.233
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1523-536X
pISSN - 0730-7659
DOI - 10.1111/j.1523-536x.1989.tb00881.x
Subject(s) - medicine , etiology , neonatal mortality , obstetrics , perinatal mortality , mortality rate , pediatrics , pregnancy , infant mortality , fetus , population , surgery , psychiatry , environmental health , biology , genetics
During its first seven years of operation, the Birth Place, a free‐standing birth center in California, registered 898 women, of whom 690 (77%) were admitted in labor and 150 (17%) were referred for hospital birth prior to onset of labor. Using carefully delineated screening criteria, the center had an overall 18% intrapartum transport rate to the hospital, primarily for prolonged or arrested labor, a 3% cesarean section rate, no maternal mortality, and one neonatal death resulting from Cornelia de Lange syndrome, a congenital mental retardation‐malformation syndrome of unknown etiology, which in this case was incompatible with life. Deliveries at the Birth Place were associated with low cost, a high level of maternal satisfaction, a low cesarean section rate, low neonatal mortality, and no maternal mortality. (BIRTH 16:3 September 1989)