A retrospective cohort study comparing the clinical outcomes of a birth centre and labour ward in the same hospital

To compare clinical outcomes of women attending a birth centre with similar women choosing labour ward birth, we conducted a retrospective cohort study. The 720 birth centre women were more likely to be older, more highly educated and of English-speaking-background than the 2963 labour ward women. Labour was more likely to commence spontaneously in the birth centre group and forceps and caesarean section births were also less likely to occur in this group. A greater proportion of infants of birth centre mothers had higher birth weights when categorised > 75th to 100th percentile. Any form of resuscitation was required less frequently in the birth centre group. Intervention rates in the birth centre were lower than those in the labour ward without any evidence of adverse infant outcomes.