Characteristics of the respondents (n=11 418) compared with national data
| Characteristics | n (%) or mean [SD] | Χ2 | ||
| Respondents | National Perinatal Registry* or Statistics Netherlands † | P value | ||
| Maternal age at time of birth | Mean [SD] | 30.57 [3.97] | <0.001 | |
| <25 | 616 (5.6) | 13 499 (8.4)* | ||
| 25–29 | 3770 (34.3) | 47 468 (29.4)* | ||
| 30–34 | 4924 (44.8) | 64 390 (39.8)* | ||
| 35–39 | 1505 (13.7) | 30 420 (18.8)* | ||
| >40 | 178 (1.6) | 5844 (3.6)* | ||
| Missing | 425 | |||
| Maternal ethnicity | Both parents born in the Netherlands | 9514 (87.7) | 3 158 000 (71.5)† | <0.001 |
| Respondent and one or both her parents born abroad | 384 (3.5) | 762 000 (17.3)† | ||
| Respondent born in the Netherlands, one or both her parents born abroad | 955 (8.8) | 493 000 (11.2)† | ||
| Missing | 565 | |||
| Maternal education level at time of birth | Primary school, first 3 years of secondary school or lower level of vocational training | 673 (6.1) | 975 000 (22.6)† | <0.001 |
| Upper secondary school or higher vocational training | 2659 (24.3) | 1 710 000 (39.6)† | ||
| Bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree programmes | 7617 (69.6) | 1 633 000 (37.8)† | ||
| Missing | 469 | |||
| Parity | Nulliparous | 6556 (57.4) | 71 950 (44.5)* | <0.001 |
| Multiparous | 4862 (42.6) | 89 589 (55.5)* | ||
| Singleton or multiple pregnancy | Singleton pregnancy | 11 198 (98.1) | 159 213 (98.5)* | 0.001 |
| Multiple pregnancy | 220 (1.9) | 2477 (1.5)* | ||
| Responsible care provider at onset of pregnancy | Midwife-led care | 9691 (84.9) | 143 312 (88.0)* | <0.001 |
| Obstetrician-led care | 1692 (14.8) | 21 975 (11.7)* | ||
| General practitioner | 25 (0.2) | |||
| Other | 10 (0.1) | |||
| Responsible care provider at onset of labour | Midwife-led care | 6915 (60.6) | 77 623 (47.7)* | <0.001 |
| Obstetrician-led care | 4487 (39.3) | 78 204 (48.0)* | ||
| General practitioner | 15 (0.1) | |||
| No care provider | 1 (0.0) | |||
| Onset of labour | Spontaneous | 7692 (67.3) | 104 906 (67.0)* | <0.001 |
| Spontaneous rupture of membranes, followed by an induction with tablets or oxytocin | 398 (3.5) | 39 050 (25.0)* | ||
| Rupture of membranes to induce labour | 681 (6.0) | |||
| Induction of labour with tablets/Foley catheter/oxytocin | 2004 (17.6) | |||
| Prelabour caesarean section | 643 (5.6) | 12 460 (8.0)* | ||
| Mode of birth | Spontaneous vaginal birth | 7195 (63.0) | 118 823 (76.5) | <0.001 |
| Spontaneous vaginal birth with episiotomy | 1356 (11.9) | |||
| Vacuum or forceps delivery | 1053 (9.2) | 11 240 (7.2)* | ||
| Attempted vacuum or forceps, followed by caesarean section | 101 (0.9) | 12 962 (8.3)* | ||
| Caesarean section during labour | 1130 (9.9) | |||
| Prelabour caesarean section | 583 (5.1) | 12 460 (8.0)* | ||
| Pharmacological pain relief‡ | No pain relief | 7014 (64.8) | 93 334 (57.7)* | <0.001 |
| Epidural | 2417 (22.3) | 68 386 (42.3)* | ||
| Remifentanil | 1026 (9.5) | |||
| Epidural and remifentanil | 154 (1.4) | |||
| Other | 179 (1.7) | |||
| Epidural and ‘other’ | 29 (0.3) | |||
| Remifentanil and ‘other’ | 5 (0.0) | |||
| Epidural, remifentanil and ‘other’ | 4 (0.0) | |||
| Actual place of birth | Midwife-led care at home | 2329 (20.4) | 20 487 (12.7)* | <0.001 |
| Midwife-led care at birth centre | 452 (4.0) | 4241 (2.6)* | ||
| Midwife-led care at the hospital | 1330 (11.6) | 19 309 (11.9)* | ||
| Obstetrician-led care at the hospital | 7260 (63.6) | 117 516 (72.7)* | ||
| Other | 47 (0.4) | 155 (0.1)* | ||
*Based on women in the Netherlands who gave birth in 2019 registered by Perined (n=162 832). Not all add up to 100% due to unknown data.
†Based on women aged 15–55 in the Netherlands in 2019 registered by Statistics Netherlands (n=4 414 000).
‡Respondents who had a prelabour caesarean section were excluded from this question.