John Blockert, director of the Utah State Health Department Bureau of Vital Records, presented a report comparing neonatal death rates of Utah planned home births with those of Utah hospital births. He selected a span of time which managed to cover the entire time records were available. He looked at two time periods, 1989-1990 and 1991-1992. His findings regarding Neonatal Death Rates in Utah, which is constituted as Deaths of infants during birth and through 28 days of postpartum per 1000 live births. The first time period demonstrated that infant deaths resulting from planned home births occurred at half the rate of hospital births. During the second time period the hospital neonatal death rate in Utah remained quite steady at about 2 per 1000 while the Planned Home Births dropped to zero.
A study was conducted by Lewis Mehl comparing two groups each of 1,046 subjects. One group all had planned home births while the other all had hospital births. The mothers were matched for every known variable known at the time to influence maternal and newborn outcomes. Below are the results:
| Negative outcomes | Analysis |
| Shoulder Dystocia | 8x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Fetal Distress | 6x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Babies Requiring Resuscitation | 3.7x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Birth Injuries (To Newborns) | only OCCURRED in HOSPITAL |
| Infection Rates in Newborns (NB) | 4x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Meconium Aspiration Pneumonia in NB | 2.5x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Respiratory Distress in NB | 17x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Apgar Scores | Significantly WORSE in HOSPITAL |
| Maternal High Blood Pressure | 5x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Meconium Staining (Fetal Distress) | 3.5x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Maternal Postpartum Hemorrhage | 3x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Cesarean Rate | 3x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Episiotomy Rate | 9x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Rate of 3rd Degree Tear (Into Anal Sphincter) | 3x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
| Forceps Rate | 21.4x HIGHER in HOSPITAL |
Learn More About Home Birth Vs. Hospital Birth in the State of Utah