Trial reportBMC pregnancy and childbirth2011
Comparison of midwife-led and consultant-led care of healthy women at low risk of childbirth complications in the Republic of Ireland: a randomised trial.
Trial report in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Midwife continuity of care models versus other models of care for childbearing women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Maternity service organisational interventions that aim to reduce caesarean section: a systematic review and meta-analyses.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2019Pooled it
- Active versus expectant management for women in the third stage of labour.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Interventions for promoting the initiation of breastfeeding.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Midwifery-led antenatal care models: mapping a systematic review to an evidence-based quality framework to identify key components and characteristics of care.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2016Pooled it
- Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Models of antenatal care to reduce and prevent preterm birth: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2016Pooled it
- Quality of care provided by mid-level health workers: systematic review and meta-analysis.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2013Pooled it
- A Randomized Trial of Intrapartum Fetal ECG ST-Segment Analysis.The New England journal of medicine · 2015Trial
- Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes and Health System Costs in Standard Public Maternity Care Compared to Private Obstetric-Led Care: A Population-Level Matched Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Observational
- The effect of midwifery-led continuum of care to improve maternal and newborn outcomes in the Sidama region, Ethiopia: A non-randomized control trial study.SAGE open medicine · 2025Article
- Midwife-Led Versus Obstetrician-Led Perinatal Care for Low-Risk Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 1.4 Million Pregnancies.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Effect of continuity of team midwifery care on maternal and neonatal outcomes: a quasi-experimental study in Iran.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Perceived Impact of Healthcare Relationships and Interactions on Parental Experiences of Prenatal Diagnosis and Termination of Pregnancy for Foetal Anomaly on the Island of Ireland.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- An online survey of women's views of respectful and disrespectful pregnancy and early labour care in the Czech Republic.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Review
- Pregnant women's perception of midwifery-led continuity care model in Ethiopia: a qualitative study.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Planned hospital birth compared with planned home birth for pregnant women at low risk of complications.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Review
- A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Articles on Midwifery Based on the Web of Science.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2023Article
- Vaginal Birth at Term - Part 1. Guideline of the DGGG, OEGGG and SGGG (S3-Level, AWMF Registry No. 015/083, December 2020).Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNo midwifery-led units existed in Ireland before 2004. The aim of this study was to compare midwife-led (MLU) versus consultant-led (CLU) care for healthy, pregnant women without risk factors for labour and delivery.
methodsAn unblinded, pragmatic randomised trial was designed, funded by the Health Service Executive (Dublin North-East). Following ethical approval, all women booking prior to 24 weeks of pregnancy at two maternity hospitals with 1,300-3,200 births annually in Ireland were assessed for trial eligibility.1,653 consenting women were centrally randomised on a 2:1 ratio to MLU or CLU care, (1101:552). 'Intention-to-treat' analysis was used to compare 9 key neonatal and maternal outcomes.
resultsNo statistically significant difference was found between MLU and CLU in the seven key outcomes: caesarean birth (163 [14.8%] vs 84 [15.2%]; relative risk (RR) 0.97 [95% CI 0.76 to 1.24]), induction (248 [22.5%] vs 138 [25.0%]; RR 0.90 [0.75 to 1.08]), episiotomy (126 [11.4%] vs 68 [12.3%]; RR 0.93 [0.70 to 1.23]), instrumental birth (139 [12.6%] vs 79 [14.3%]; RR 0.88 [0.68 to 1.14]), Apgar scores < 8 (10 [0.9%] vs 9 [1.6%]; RR 0.56 [0.23 to 1.36]), postpartum haemorrhage (144 [13.1%] vs 75 [13.6%]; RR 0.96 [0.74 to 1.25]); breastfeeding initiation (616 [55.9%] vs 317 [57.4%]; RR 0.97 [0.89 to 1.06]). MLU women were significantly less likely to have continuous electronic fetal monitoring (397 [36.1%] vs 313 [56.7%]; RR 0.64 [0.57 to 0.71]), or augmentation of labour (436 [39.6%] vs 314 [56.9%]; RR 0.50 [0.40 to 0.61]).
conclusionsMidwife-led care, as practised in this study, is as safe as consultant-led care and is associated with less intervention during labour and delivery.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.