Indicator 4.1 Proportion of pregnant women being tested for gestational diabetes

Considerations

There are currently no accessible, national data that directly provide a measure of the proportion of pregnant women who are tested for gestational diabetes, as births and testing data are not linked. The use of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) data and birth records data provide a proxy measure for this indicator.

Overview

Of women who gave birth in 2018, it was estimated that 61% were tested for gestational diabetes during their pregnancy (Figure 4.1.1).

Trends

The proportion of women giving birth who were tested for gestational diabetes has increased gradually each year from 55% in 2014 (Figure 4.1.1).

Age

The proportion of mothers tested for gestational diabetes increased with maternal age from 52% of those aged 20 and under to between 61–63% from age 25 and over (Figure 4.1.2).

About the data

The estimated rate of testing reported here is a proxy measure based on Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) data for the number of tests for gestational diabetes in a given year, divided by the number of women giving birth in that year, which were obtained from the National Perinatal Data Collection. Additional work is required to provide a more reliable measure that captures testing among pregnant women and can be used to assess progress against this indicator.

Explore the data 

4.1: Proportion of pregnant women being tested for gestational diabetes, by age group, 2014 to 2018

Trends figure 4.1.1 shows the proportion of pregnant women tested for gestational diabetes increased gradually from 55% in 2014 to 61% in 2018. Similar increases were experienced across all age groups.

Age groups figure 4.1.2 shows a comparison in the proportion of pregnant women tested for gestational diabetes by age group in 2018. The proportion increased from 52% among those aged less than 20 to between 61% and 63% among women aged 25 and over.

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Indicator 4.1 data specifications
  Definition Data source
Numerator Number of records (patient level) for gestational diabetes testing identified on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item numbers: 66545, 66548). AIHW analysis of MBS Data Collection
Denominator Number of women giving birth. AIHW National Perinatal Data Collection