Comparative assess of home birth and hospital birth in primigravid women

Introduction: Home birth has beneficial effects on labor and delivery. This study is aimed to compare home and hospital births in primigravid women. Methods: In this analytic descriptive study the participants consisted of all women aged 18-30 years, with term pregnancy, single fetus, cephalic presentation, spontaneous onset of labor and without antenatal complications. 50 women were in home birth group and another 50 were in hospital birth group. In this study length of delivery, first and fifth minute APGAR scores, rate of episiotomy, satisfaction from delivery experience and initiation of breastfeeding were measured T-test, Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used for data analysis. Results: Findings revealed that home birth appears to be associated with shorter overall delivery time (P<0.01), lower rate of episiotomy (P<0.01), earlier initiation of breastfeeding (P<0.01) and increased satisfaction from delivery experience (P<0.01). No significant difference was observed in duration of second stage of delivery, and also first and fifth minutes APGAR scores in two group. Conclusion: Considering the above findings, it can be concluded that home birth is not only devoid of adverse effect on delivery, but also improves many factors related to delivery. Planned home birth can be applied in normal uncomplicated deliveries in our country by providing optimum conditions.