Well, I got so curious about yesterday's issue of premature birth in the US that I emailed Ken Johnson, the lead epidemiologist on the landmark BMJ study of planned homebirths attended by CPMs, and he let me know that they also noticed the difference, and although it wasn't included in the original study, they have published on the web their findings on lower prematurity rates among midwife clients. It's a pdf, easy to download and share! Their ongoing research can be found at: http://understandingbirthbetter.com.
The upshot is, yes, CPM clients have lower rates of preterm birth than similar populations in the general population (measured by the National Institute of Health): "the premature birth rate for the NIH non-Hispanic white births in hospital was 11.3%, more than double the rate for the women cared for by Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs)."
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