What characterizes women who want to give birth as naturally as possible without painkillers or intervention?

Objective: To describe the characteristics of pregnant women who wish to have as natural a birth as possible without analgesics and without intervention. Study design: National cohort study. Setting: Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Population: 55,859 pregnant women booked for antenatal care in Norway 1999-2007. Methods: Data on women's interest in natural birth and a set of possible predictors were retrieved from a questionnaire completed at the 30th week of pregnancy and linked to the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Main outcome measure: Natural birth and the characteristics of pregnant women with such preferences. Results: Interest in natural childbirth was consistently expressed by 72%. Positive experience from previous pregnancies, first birth or third or later birth, no fear of giving birth, and reporting positive intra-psychic phenomena are significantly associated with the wish for natural birth. Conclusions: Positive experiences from previous childbirths and no fear of giving birth are the strongest factors associated with a wish for as natural birth as possible and should be taken into consideration in public health. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.