CBC News has published an article relating to the recently released Cochrane Review, "Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women".

The article states:

Midwives could safely lead the care in most pregnancies, say international researchers who compared outcomes for women and their babies.

In midwife-led care, the midwife is the lead professional in planning, organizing and delivery of care throughout pregnancy and delivery. In medical-led models of care, an obstetrician or family physician mainly has those responsibilities, with midwives sometimes part of a team but not the leader.

In Wednesday's issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Jane Sandall of King's College in London and her co-authors compared midwife-led and other models of care from 13 trials involving more than 16,000 women with both low and increased risk of complications. [continue reading]