Effect of home and hospital delivery on long-term cognitive function

We examined the relation between place of birth and cognitive function in y oung adult life in a historical cohort study based upon birth data from the computerized Danish Medical Birth Registry and cognitive function as measu red at time of drafting for military service in two Danish counties. The co hort included 4,296 Danish conscripts born between 1973 and 1976, 123 born at home and 4,173 born in hospital or at a birth clinic, Cognitive function was measured by the Boerge Prien test in men, 18 to 20 years of age. The h ighest possible score is 78. The mean Boerge Prien test score was 43.1 for conscripts born in specialized hospital departments, 2.4 higher for conscri pts born in a birth clinic (95% confidence interval = 0.9-4.0), and 2.1 Low er for conscripts born at home (95% confidence limits = -3.8 to -0.4) after adjusting for birth weight, length at birth, birth order, gestational age, maternal age, and marital and occupational status. Our findings raise the possibility that home birth can lead to lower cognitive function in adultho od; however, from our data we could not distinguish between planned and unp lanned births at home.