A novel international study conducted by doctors at Maine Medical Center has revealed that home births are significantly more detrimental compared to hospital births for babies.

It said that a planned home birth tripled the newborn mortality rate, in comparison to a planned hospital delivery; however, a planned home birth is also associated to lower preterm birth and low birth weight.

The research paper was published last week in the American Journal of Obstetrics.

The study by Maine's largest hospital is revealed to be hit by an immediate antagonism both here and abroad. Many home-birth midwives and researchers are of the view that the paper is biased.

Joseph Wax, a doctor of maternal and fetal medicine at Maine Medical Center and the lead author of the paper, compared the study with previous researches.

Wax uncovered that fifteen in 10,000 babies died, following a planned home birth, compared with four in 10,000, after a planned hospital delivery, as per the study.

Wax claimed that he and the local researchers undertook the study due to a severe lack of related data that presents an explicit comparison between planned home deliveries and planned hospital deliveries.