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Introduction: Women’s awareness of fetal movements is important as perception of decreased fetal movements can be a sign of a compromised fetus. We aimed to study rate of labor induction in relation to number of times women seek care due to decreased or altered fetal movements during their pregnancy compared to women not seeking such care. Further, we investigated the indication of induction. Material and methods: A prospective population-based cohort study including all obstetric clinics in Stockholm, Sweden. Questionnaires were distributed to women who sought care due to decreased or altered fetal movements ≥ 28 week’s gestation in 2014, women for whom an examination did not indicate a compromised fetus that required induction of labor or cesarean section when they sought care. Women who gave birth at ≥ 28 weeks’ gestation in 2014 in Stockholm comprises the reference group. Results: Labor was induced more often among the 2683 women who had sought care due to decreased or altered fetal movements (RR 1.4, 95% CI 1.3–1.5). In women who presented with decreased or altered fetal movements induction of labor occurred more frequently for fetal indication than those with induction of labor and no prior fetal movement presentation (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.4–1.8). The rate of induction increased with number of times a woman sought care, RR 1.3 for single presentation to 3.2 for five or more. Conclusions: We studied women seeking care for decreased or altered fetal movements and for whom pregnancy was not terminated with induction or caesarean section. Subsequent (median 20 days), induction of labor and induction for fetal indications were more frequent in this group compared to the group of women with no fetal movement presentations. Among women seeking care for altered or decreased fetal movements, the likelihood of induction of labor increased with frequency of presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the study was to estimate the proportion of planned home births in Sweden and to identify maternal characteristics of women giving birth at home., Study Design: This case-control study included register data of births from 1992 to 2001 in 352 women giving birth at home and 1760 women giving birth in a hospital., Results: Four hundred thirty-nine out-of-hospital births were found during the study period, and the proportion of planned home births was less than 0.5/1000. Women with home birth were more likely to have 4 children or more (odds ratio 3.7 [1.4 to 9.9]), be born in a European country outside Sweden (odds ratio 3.5 [1.8 to 6.8]), have a family income below the median (odds ratio 2.9 [2.0 to 4.1]), not work outside the home (odds ratio 2.4 [1.7 to 3.5]), have a high level of education (odds ratio 2.1 [1.5 to 3.0]), and be older than 35 years (odds ratio 1.7 [1.1 to 2.5])., Conclusion: Women with planned home births appear to be a group having a different lifestyle, compared with Swedish women in general.