BIRTH OUTCOMES BY LEVEL OF OBSTETRIC CARE IN FINLAND - A CATCHMENT-AREA BASED ANALYSIS

Study objective - To study whether hospitals of different levels are e qually safe places to give birth in a regionalised system of care. Des ign - This was a population based, cross sectional survey comparing bi rth outcomes in nationwide catchment areas of different levels of hosp ital care. All women and low risk women were examined separately. Sett ing and subjects - The study population comprised all women birth in F inland in 1987-88. were obtained from the Finnish Medical Registry, co mplemented by official data. Main results - No statistically significa nt differences were found in crude or birthweight specific perinatal m ortality rates between the catchment areas, nor did the other outcomes studied favour tertiary care compared with other levels of care in th e area based analysis. Conclusions - In a regionalised system of birth care with a proper referral system, small local hospitals are as safe places to give birth as tertiary care hospitals.