DATE: Saturday, June 7, 1997                TAG: 9706050203

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E5   EDITION: FINAL 

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[BIRTHS ASSISTED BY MIDWIVES] WHAT THE STUDIES SHOW

WHAT THE STUDIES SHOW

A University of Washington study, reported in the April issue of

The American Journal of Public Health, found that certified nurse

midwives' patients had fewer Caesarean sections, received less

anesthesia and had a lower rate of episiotomies and induced labor

than doctors' patients.

The midwives' patients also used 12 percent fewer resources that

the doctors' patients, the study found.

The C-section rate for patients of nurse midwives was 8.8 percent

compared with 13.6 percent for obstetricians' patients and 15.1

percent for family practitioners' patients.

The study was based on an analysis of the charts of 1,322

healthy, low-risk patients.

An Oregon State University study, published in the Journal of

Health Politics, Policy and Law, suggested the use of midwives could

save an estimated $8.5 billion annually.

In a study of 1,056 women who delivered with a midwife, published

in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10 percent had

a Caesarian section compared with 12 percent of the more than 3,551

women cared for by a physician.

Twenty-three percent of the women cared for by a midwife used

epidural anesthesia, compared with 42 percent of those under the

care of a physician. KEYWORDS: MIDWIVE STUDY

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