Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19286689›Full record

ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2009

Primary birthing attendants and birth outcomes in remote Inuit communities--a natural "experiment" in Nunavik, Canada.

F Simonet, R Wilkins, E Labranche, J Smylie, M Heaman, P Martens, W D Fraser, K Minich, Y Wu, C Carry and 1 more

Open access · greenAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Interventions to Address Disparities in Perinatal Outcomes by Ethnicity: A Systematic Review.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Returning childbirth to inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic.International journal of circumpolar health · 2022
    Review
  6. Long-distance travel for birthing among Indigenous and non-Indigenous pregnant people in Canada.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2021
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Rates of stillbirth by gestational age and cause in Inuit and First Nations populations in Quebec.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2013
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.

F SimonetDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sainte-Justine Hospital, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
R Wilkins
E Labranche
J Smylie
M Heaman
P Martens
W D Fraser
K Minich
Y Wu
C Carry
Z-C Luo
Université de Montréal · CAUniversity of Manitoba · CACentre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine · CAInuit Tapiriit Kanatami · CANunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services · CASt. Michael's Hospital · CAUniversity of Ottawa · CAUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

CIHR 73551
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is a lack of data on the safety of midwife-led maternity care in remote or indigenous communities. In a de facto natural "experiment", birth outcomes were assessed by primary birthing attendant in two sets of remote Inuit communities.

methodsA geocoding-based retrospective birth cohort study in 14 Inuit communities of Nunavik, Canada, 1989-2000: primary birth attendants were Inuit midwives in the Hudson Bay (1529 Inuit births) vs western physicians in Ungava Bay communities (1197 Inuit births). The primary outcome was perinatal death. Secondary outcomes included stillbirth, neonatal death, post-neonatal death, preterm, small-for-gestational-age and low birthweight birth. Multilevel logistic regression was used to obtain the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) controlling for maternal age, marital status, parity, education, infant sex and plurality, community size and community-level random effects.

resultsThe aORs (95% confidence interval) for perinatal death comparing the Hudson Bay vs Ungava Bay communities were 1.29 (0.63 to 2.64) for all Inuit births and 1.13 (0.48 to 2.47) for Inuit births at > or =28 weeks of gestation. There were no statistically significant differences in the crude or adjusted risks of any of the outcomes examined.

conclusionRisks of perinatal death were somewhat but not significantly higher in the Hudson Bay communities with midwife-led maternity care compared with the Ungava Bay communities with physician-led maternity care. These findings are inconclusive, although the results excluding extremely preterm births are more reassuring concerning the safety of midwife-led maternity care in remote indigenous communities.

Indexed as

Health Services, IndigenousInuitMaternal Health ServicesMidwiferyAdultFemaleHumansInfant, Low Birth WeightInfant, NewbornInfant, Small for Gestational AgeNunavutPregnancyPregnancy OutcomePremature BirthRetrospective StudiesRisk Factors

Identifiers

PMID19286689
PMCPMC2956754
OpenAlexW2164287843

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.