Table 2 Intervention rates for 5418 planned home births attended by certified professional midwives and hospital births in the United States. Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise

Intervention No (%) of intended home births with certified professional midwives in US, 2000 (n=5418) Singleton, vertex births at 37 weeks gestation in US, 2000* (n=3 360 868) (%) Survey of singleton births in all risk categories in US, 2000-1 (n=1583) (%) Electronic fetal monitoring 520 (9.6) 84.3 93 Intravenous 454 (8.4) NR 85 Artificial rupture of membranes 272 (5.0) NR 67 Epidural 254 (4.7) NR 63 Induction of labour 519 (9.6) 21.0 44 Simulation of labour 498 (9.2) 18.9 53 Episiotomy 116 (2.1) 33.0 35 Forceps 57 (1.0) 2.2 3 Vacuum extraction 32 (0.6) 5.2 7 Caesarean section 200 (3.7) 19.0 24

NR=not reported on birth certificate.

^* Based on data from birth certificates for all 3 360 868 such births in United States in 2000. Data reported by National Center for Health Statistics.¹⁰ This subset of birthing women would generally be low risk, but would include a small percentage of higher risk women who would likely require more medical intervention.

Results from listening to mothers survey, October 2002. Percentages weighted to reflect US population of birthing women, aged 18-44.⁵ Includes about 20% of women not at low risk who may experience higher intervention rates.

For certified professional midwives 2000 study and listening to mothers survey, both attempted and successful inductions were reported; for US birth certificate data only successful inductions are reported.