Australia's mothers and babies 2003

Australia’s Mothers and Babies 2003 is the thirteenth report providing information on births in Australia from perinatal data collections for each state and territory. The report presents demographic, pregnancy and childbirth factors of women who gave birth in 2003 and the characteristics and outcomes of their babies.

The report can be used by researchers, academics, students, policy makers and health service planners, and those providing services in reproductive health.

Highlights

• There were 256,925 babies born to 252,584 mothers in 2003 reported to the National Perinatal Data Collection.
  
• The average age of all mothers was 29.5 years, and for first-time mothers, 27.6 years, continuing the upward trend seen in maternal age in recent years. There were 11,617 mothers aged less than 20 years (4.6%).
  
• One in 25 mothers intended to give birth outside of a conventional labour-ward setting in 2003 (4.0%). Only 2.8% of mothers actually did so, giving birth in places such as birth centres or at home.
  
• Of women who gave birth, 60.3% had a spontaneous vaginal birth and 0.4% had a vaginal breech birth. Forceps delivery occurred in 3.9% of mothers, while deliveries by vacuum extraction accounted for 6.8%.
  
• The increase in caesarean sections continued with 28.5% of mothers having caesarean section deliveries in 2003, compared with 19.4% in 1994. Over the same period, instrumental deliveries decreased from 11.7% to 10.7%. Caesarean section rates were higher among older mothers and those admitted to private hospitals.
  
• Of multiparous mothers who gave birth, 23.1% had previously had a caesarean section. Mothers with a history of caesarean section were likely to have another caesarean section in 2003 (81.4%), while 14.9% had a spontaneous vaginal birth, and 3.5% had an assisted vaginal delivery.
  
• Of mothers having an operative delivery (caesarean section, forceps or vacuum extraction), one third had an epidural or caudal anaesthetic administered, and approximately half had a spinal anaesthetic. A general anaesthetic was administered for 6.2% of operative deliveries. Proportions of mothers having spinal and general anaesthetics were higher for caesarean section deliveries than for assisted vaginal deliveries.
  
• There were 8,857 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth, making up 3.6% of all mothers in Australia in 2003. Over one-third (38.6%) of births in the Northern Territory were to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mothers.
  
• The average age of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mothers who gave birth was 24.8 years, compared with 29.7 years for other mothers.
  
• Caesarean section deliveries occurred in 23.3% of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mothers, compared with 28.8% of other mothers.
  
• The proportion of mothers who were born in a country other than Australia was 22.4%.
  
• Multiple pregnancies accounted for 1.7% of all pregnancies and included 4,179 twin pregnancies, 76 triplet pregnancies and four quadruplet pregnancies. The twinning rate was 16.5 per 1,000 mothers.
  

• Of the 256,925 births in Australia, 20,243 (7.9%) were preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation). The average gestational age of all babies was 38.9 weeks in 2003.
  
• Babies of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mothers were more likely to be preterm (14.1%), compared with 7.6% of babies of other mothers.
  
• Low birthweight (less than 2,500 grams) occurred in 16,086 (6.3%) liveborn babies. The proportion of liveborn babies of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander mothers that were low birthweight was 12.9% compared with 6.0% of babies of other mothers.
  
• Of babies with breech presentations at birth, 87.3% were delivered by caesarean section.
  
• Male births exceeded female births, accounting for 51.5% of all births. The national sex ratio was 106.1 male births per 100 female births.
  
• The median length of stay in hospital for babies born in hospital was 4.0 days. The proportion of these babies with a length of stay of less than 5 days was 68.5%, and those with a length of stay of 5 days or more was 31.5%.
  
• In 2003, 5,345 babies were admitted to level III neonatal intensive care units in Australia. This equates to a rate of 21.0 per 1,000 live births. Of these babies, 46.8% had a gestational age of less than 32 weeks and 39.7% had a birthweight of less than 1,500 grams.
  
• Using state and territory perinatal data, the fetal death rate was 7.1 per 1,000 births; the neonatal death rate was 3.0 per 1,000 live births; and the perinatal death rate was 10.1 per 1,000 births.
  
• The main categories of perinatal death, as classified by the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand Perinatal Death Classification were unexplained antepartum deaths, congenital abnormalities and spontaneous preterm births. These three groups of causes accounted for over half of all perinatal deaths.