The number of caesarean section births is continuing to rise,
according to data presented in a new report released today by the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Professor Michael Chapman, Head of the School of Women's and
Children's Health, UNSW, said that of all women who gave birth in
2003, the majority (60.3%) had a spontaneous vaginal birth, but
that caesarean sections were still increasing.
The report, Australia's Mothers and Babies 2003,
prepared by AIHW's National Perinatal Statistics Unit (NPSU), shows
that in that year, 28.5% of mothers had a caesarean section
delivery, compared with 19.4% in 1994.
Of caesarean sections in 2003, 57.9% were without labour, while
41.9% were with labour.
'Caesarean section rates tend to be higher among older mothers
and those admitted to private hospitals,' Professor Chapman
said.
For women who gave birth in hospitals, 37.4% of those in private
hospitals had a caesarean section compared with 25.7% of those in
public hospitals.
Caesarean sections were less frequent among Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander mothers; 23.3% of whom delivered by caesarean
section, compared with 28.8% of other mothers.
Among mothers who had given birth previously, 23.1% had
previously had a caesarean section. The majority of these mothers
(81.4%) had another caesarean section in 2003.
Caesarean section deliveries were common for babies with breech
presentations at birth. Of these babies, 87.3% were delivered by
caesarean section.
Over the period 1994-2003, instrumental deliveries, including
forceps and vacuum extraction deliveries, decreased from 11.7% to
10.7%.
In 2003, forceps deliveries occurred in 3.9% of mothers, while
deliveries by vacuum extraction accounted for 6.8%.
There were 256,925 babies reported to the National Perinatal
Data Collection, born to 252,584 mothers in 2003.
Of these mothers 8,857 were Indigenous, making up 3.6% of all
women who gave birth in Australia in 2003.
'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,' Professor Chapman said.
While 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.
Multiple pregnancies accounted for 1.7% of all pregnancies and
included 4,179 twin pregnancies, 76 triplet pregnancies and four
quadruplet pregnancies.
9 December 2005
Further information: Professor Michael Chapman,
UNSW, tel. 02 9350 2315 or 0412 900 120
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of the Australia's Mothers and
Babies 2003 report.