Talk:Australia’s mothers and babies 2009
Suggested citation
Li Z, McNally L, Hilder L & Sullivan EA 2011. Australia’s mothers and babies 2009. Perinatal statistics series no. 25. Cat. no. PER 52. Sydney: AIHW National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit.
Maternal age
Maternal age is an important risk factor for both obstetric and perinatal outcomes. Adverse outcomes are more likely to occur in younger and older mothers. In 2009, the age of mothers ranged from less than 15 to 58 years. The average age of women who gave birth in Australia has increased by 7.5% since 1991. The mean age in 2009 was 30.0 years, compared with 29.0 years in 2000, while the median age in 2009 was 30.0 years.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers
In 2009, 11,284 women who identified as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander gave birth in Australia, representing 3.8% of all women who gave birth (Table 3.2). Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mothers accounted for a much greater proportion of all mothers in the Northern Territory (38.2%) than in other jurisdictions.
Parity
Parity is the number of a woman’s previous pregnancies that resulted in a birth. In 2009, 41.6% of mothers had their first baby and 33.5% had their second baby. About one in six mothers (15.0%) had given birth twice previously and 9.8% had given birth three or more times (Table 3.8).
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Victorian Perinatal Data Collection (VPDC)
- The Victorian Perinatal Data Collection (VPDC) is established by the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 under the functions of the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity (CCOPMM).
- established as a population based surveillance system to collect and analyse information on and in relation to the health of mothers and babies in order to contribute to improvements in their health.
- Perinatal period is the period around birth. In Victoria this begins at 20 weeks gestation and ends 28 days after birth.
- data collected via a birth report contains information on obstetric conditions, procedures and outcomes, neonatal morbidity and birth defects relating to every birth in Victoria of at least 20 weeks gestation, or if gestation is unknown at least 400gms birth weight.
- majority of data items, of which there are over 100, comply with the National Perinatal Minimum Data Set and are sent to the National Perinatal Statistics Unit for the production of the annual report on Australia's mothers and babies.
