Transferred home births

Although almost all women in Austria give birth in a clinical setting, the proportion of home births is around 1.5%. According to the Austrian Midwife Law, an unremarkable medical history and a normally recorded physiological pregnancy are prerequisites for a birth in a home birth setting. In case of suspicion or occurrence of irregularities or dangerous conditions, the home birth has to be stopped and the woman has to be transferred to a clinic immediately. This legal framework is an essential basis for minimising the potential risks of a home birth for mother and child.

While the maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in clinical and home births were analysed in a wide variety of studies, the data on maternal and neonatal outcomes of births, which are needed to be transferred from a home-birth setting into a clinical setting is poorly prepared and severely limited. The analysis of outcome quality after transferred home births provides important information on the process quality of extramural obstetric care.

With the intention of contributing to filling this research gap, the following research guiding questions were defined:

What are the rates of neonatal morbidities and mortalities after transferred home births?

What are the rates of maternal morbidities and mortalities after transferred home births?

The method chosen is retrospective data collection and analysis from the Austrian Birth Register. For this paper data from all transferred home births from 2016 to 2020 are used and related to predefined variables.

Statistical data analysis will be performed using (1) descriptive mapping of frequencies, (2) bivariate analyses and (3) application of multinomial regression models.

DI Sabrina Neururer, PhD (IET)

DDr. Patrick Stelzl (IET)