Background: Most studies on birth settings investigate the association between planned place of birth at the start of labor and birth outcomes and intervention rates. To optimize maternity care it also is important to pay attention to the entire process of pregnancy and childbirth. This study explores the association between the initial preferred place of birth and model of care, and the course of pregnancy and labor in low-risk nulliparous women in the Netherlands. Methods: As part of a Dutch prospective cohort study (2007–2011), we compared medical indications during pregnancy and birth outcomes of 576 women who initially preferred a home birth (n = 226), a midwife-led hospital birth (n = 168) or an obstetrician-led hospital birth (n = 182). Data were obtained by a questionnaire before 20 weeks of gestation and by medical records. Analyses were performed according to the initial preferred place of birth. Results: Low-risk nulliparous women who preferred a home birth with midwife-led care were less likely to be diagnosed with a medical indication during pregnancy compared to women who preferred a birth with obstetrician-led care (OR 0.41 95% CI 0.25-0.66). Preferring a birth with midwife-led care – both at home and in hospital - was associated with lower odds of induced labor (OR 0.51 95% CI 0.28-0.95 respectively OR 0.42 95% CI 0.21-0.85) and epidural analgesia (OR 0.32 95% CI 0.18-0.56 respectively OR 0.34 95% CI 0.19-0.62) compared to preferring a birth with obstetrician-led care. In addition, women who preferred a home birth were less likely to experience augmentation of labor (OR 0.54 95% CI 0.32-0.93) and narcotic analgesia (OR 0.41 95% CI 0.21-0.79) compared to women who preferred a birth with obstetrician-led care. We observed no significant association between preferred place of birth and mode of birth. Conclusions: Nulliparous women who initially preferred a home birth were less likely to be diagnosed with a medical indication during pregnancy. Women who initially preferred a birth with midwife-led care – both at home and in hospital – experienced lower rates of interventions during labor. Although some differences can be attributed to the model of care, we suggest that characteristics and attitudes of women themselves also play an important role.
MULTIFILE
At the beginning of the twenty first century obesity entered Dutch maternity care as a ‘new illness’ challenging maternity care professionals in providing optimal care for women with higher BMI’s. International research revealed that obese women had more perinatal problems than normal weight women. However, the effect of higher BMIs on perinatal outcomes had never been studied in women eligible for midwife-led primary care at the outset of their pregnancy. In the context of the Dutch maternity care system, it was not clear if obesity should be treated as a high-risk situation always requiring obstetrician-led care or as a condition that may lead to problems that could be detected in a timely manner in midwife-led care using the usual risk assessment tools. With the increased attention on obesity in maternity care there was also increased interest in GWG. Regarding GWG in the Netherlands, the effect of insufficient or excessive GWG on perinatal outcomes had never been studied and there were no validated guidelines for GWG. A midwife’s care for the individual woman in the context of the Dutch maternity care system - characterised by ‘midwife-led care if possible, obstetrician-led care if needed’ - is hampered by the lack of national multidisciplinary consensus regarding obesity and weight gain. Obesity has not yet been included in the OIL and local protocols contain varying recommendations. To enable sound clinical decisions and to offer optimal individual care for pregnant women in the Netherlands more insights in weight and weight gain in relation to perinatal outcomes are required. With this thesis the author intends to contribute to the body of knowledge on weight and weight gain to enhance optimal midwife-led primary care for the individual woman and to guide midwives’ clinical decision-making.
Background: The diagnosis of sarcopenia is essential for early treatment of sarcopenia in older adults, for which assessment of appendicular lean mass (ALM) is needed. Multi-frequency bio-electrical impedance analysis (MF-BIA) may be a valid assessment tool to assess ALM in older adults, but the evidences are limited. Therefore, we validated the BIA to diagnose low ALM in older adults.Methods: ALM was assessed by a standing-posture 8 electrode MF-BIA (Tanita MC-780) in 202 community-dwelling older adults (age ≥ 55 years), and compared with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (Hologic Inc., Marlborough, MA, United States; DXA). The validity for assessing the absolute values of ALM was evaluated by: (1) bias (mean difference), (2) percentage of accurate predictions (within 5% of DXA values), (3) the mean absolute error (MAE), and (4) limits of agreement (Bland-Altman analysis). The lowest quintile of ALM by DXA was used as proxy for low ALM (< 22.8 kg for men, < 16.1 kg for women). Sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing low ALM by BIA were assessed.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 72.1 ± 6.4 years, with a BMI of 25.4 ± 3.6 kg/m2, and 71% were women. BIA slightly underestimated ALM compared to DXA with a mean bias of -0.6 ± 1.2 kg. The percentage of accurate predictions was 54% with a MAE of 1.1 kg, and limits of agreement were -3.0 to + 1.8 kg. The sensitivity for ALM was 80%, indicating that 80% of subjects who were diagnosed as low ALM according to DXA were also diagnosed low ALM by BIA. The specificity was 90%, indicating that 90% of subjects who were diagnosed as normal ALM by DXA were also diagnosed as normal ALM by the BIA.Conclusion: This comparison showed a poor validity of MF-BIA to assess the absolute values of ALM, but a reasonable sensitivity and specificity to recognize the community-dwelling older adults with the lowest muscle mass.
