A study has found babies delivered during a home birth are seven times more likely to die from complications than during a planned hospital birth.

The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, compared all births in South Australia between 1991 and 2006.

The study's author, Professor Marc Keirse, says there was no difference in mortality rates overall, but the risk of babies suffering from a lack of oxygen during a home birth delivery was 27 per cent higher.

"What we found out was of the babies who died during labour from shortage of oxygen and that kind of thing, the risk was substantially higher in home births than in hospital births," he said.

"The second thing we found was that whereas the risks of babies dying during labour decreased over a number of years, it had not in home births."

Professor Keirse says home births only accounted for about 0.4 per cent of all South Australian births during the 16-year period.

He says most of the complications arose when women took risks with home births.

"It was mostly due to women who really should not give birth at home, such as women with a breach presentation, women who have a pregnancy who goes beyond term, or women with twins just determined to give birth at home," he said.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says the study should prompt more thought about expanding public funding for home births.

The national president of the AMA, Dr Andrew Pesce, believes there is political pressure to expand the availability of home births, but the study provides evidence to consider first.

"If the Government is thinking about home births and expanding or improving access for home births then it should be done within a system which recognises the risks and is set up to deal with those risks," he said.

"Otherwise we'll continue to have preventable deaths of babies in Australia."

Editor's note: (February 24) This story should have featured balancing comment from home birth advocates on the particular issues raised in the study. These views have been canvassed in other reports, two of which are available here and here.