Australia’s mothers and babies 2007

Introduction

This data summarised below is provided to help you as a clinician or researcher understand the current trends in reproductive medicine within Australia.

The information is based upon data from the publication Laws P & Sullivan EA 2009. Australia’s mothers and babies 2007. Perinatal statistics series no. 23. Cat. no. PER 48. Sydney: AIHW National Perinatal Statistics Unit and is provided for educational purposes only. The original full publication is available online from AIHW Perinatal statistics series no. 23.

Links: AIHW Perinatal statistics series no. 23 | AIHW National Perinatal Statistics Unit | Australian Statistics | Statistics- Australian Maternal Statistics

Mothers

• 289,496 women gave birth resulting in a total of 294,205 births
  • increase of 4.3% from 2006, and 14.4% increase since 2004
• 2,177 were fetal deaths
• 29.9 years was the maternal mean age in 2007
  • compared with 28.9 years in 1998
• 41.6% of mothers had their first baby and 33.5% had their second baby
• 10,883 women were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (3.8% of all women who gave birth)
  • 39.5% of all mothers in the Northern Territory
  • 25.2 years was the average age of women who gave birth

Assisted reproduction technology

• 3.1% women received ART treatment
  • ranging from 1.4% in the Australian Capital Territory to 3.7% in Tasmania
• 34.1 years was the average age of women who received ART
• 62.7% of mothers who received ART treatment were having their first baby and 37.3% had given birth previously

Smoking during pregnancy

• 16.6% of women smoked during pregnancy
  • this proportion is little changed over the previous five years

Preterm birth

• 7.4% of all mothers (less than 37 completed weeks of gestation)
  • 38.8 weeks is the average duration of pregnancy

Multiple pregnancy

• 4,634 multiple pregnancies (1.6% of all mothers) increasing due to the increased use of ART
  • 4,558 twin pregnancies
  • 76 triplet pregnancies
  • no quadruplet pregnancies

Presentation at birth

• 94.6% cephalic (any part vertex, face, or brow of the fetal head)
• 4.0% breech (buttocks or feet)

Method of birth

• 57.9% vaginal births
  • 11.2% had an instrumental vaginal delivery (forceps or vacuum extraction)
• 30.9% caesarean section births
  • 21.1% in 1998, 30.8% in 2006, rate recently stable
  • 83.3% of these were repeat caesarean sections

Pre-existing and pregnancy-related medical conditions

• epilepsy, diabetes mellitus and hypertension, antepartum haemorrhage, gestational diabetes, cord prolapse and retained placenta, pregnancy-induced hypertension, fetal distress in labour and post-partum haemorrhage rates

Postnatal length of stay

• 2.0 days non-instrumental vaginal birth
• 3.0 days vacuum extraction delivery
• 4.0 days caesarean section or forceps delivery

Babies

• 292,027 live births and 2,177 fetal deaths