United states home births increase 20 percent from 2004 to 2008

摘要

A hundred years ago, the vast majority of births in the United States took place at home. In the past 10 decades, there has been a major shift in childbearmg patterns. By thel940s, less than half of deliveries occurred at home. The percentage of home deliveries by 1969 declined to about 1%, and the rates stabilized in the next 2 decades. Following a gradual decline from 1990 to 2004, the percentage of births occurring at home increased from 0.56% in 2004 to 0.67% in 2008, which represents an increase of 20%. The reasons for this increase are unclear.The primary aim of this report was to investigate the factors associated with the increase in percentage of home births from 2004 to 2008. Data were obtained from birth certificates on live births registered in the United States; maternal demographic and medical characteristics were analyzed.