The number of females who gave birth and who had their first antenatal care visit (before 14 weeks gestation), divided by the total number of females who gave birth with a stated first antenatal care visit, and multiplied by 100.

A birth is defined as the complete expulsion or extraction from a female, of a product of conception of 20 or more completed weeks of gestation or of 400 grams or more birthweight.

Gestational age is a clinical measure of the duration of the pregnancy. Gestational age at the time of the first antenatal care visit is assessed from the best estimate of gestational age available.

An antenatal care visit is an intentional encounter between a pregnant female and a midwife or doctor prior to labour to assess and improve maternal and fetal wellbeing throughout pregnancy and prior to labour.

All females who gave birth are included for the calculation of this indicator.

100 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

The number of females who gave birth and who had their first antenatal care visit before 14 weeks gestation.

The total number of females who gave birth with a stated first antenatal care visit.

• Year of birth
• State or territory of birth
• Mother's age at birth
• Hospital annual number of births
• Hospital sector
• Remoteness category (from mother's area of usual residence)
• Indigenous status of mother
• Disadvantage quintile (from mother's area of usual residence)
• Primary Health Network (from mother's area of usual residence)
• Statistical local area 3 (from mother's area of usual residence)

Data elements are from the Perinatal National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) or have been provided as voluntary non-standardised items by the states and territories. Records with a permissible value have been included in the denominator.

Data for gestational age at first antenatal care visit for the National Perinatal Data Collection (NPDC) have been collected since 2007, but were not provided for births in all states and territories, nor were data collection practices uniform. Data was provided by New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory from 2007. The Australian Capital Territory also provided data but has not agreed these are of a suitable quality for publication. Queensland provided data for births from July 2009. Many hospitals in South Australia did not provide data in 2007, though over time the number of hospitals contributing data has increased. The indicator therefore uses only records with a permissible value for the denominator. Standardised collection of data for gestational age at first antenatal care visit using the national standard data element Pregnancy—estimated duration (at the first visit for antenatal care), completed weeks N[N] commenced for births from July 2010. In addition, there was a documented change in collection practice in New South Wales in 2011, from 'Duration of pregnancy at first antenatal visit' to 'Duration of pregnancy at first comprehensive booking or assessment by clinician' (HealthStat NSW 2016). As a result, this indicator will be published from 2011 onwards, where all states and territories provided data for this indicator.

This indicator has been developed for use by the Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) for monitoring the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA).

N[NN.N]

HealthStat NSW 2016. Antenatal care by gestational age. Viewed 23 March 2016, www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au/indicator/mum_antegage/mum_antegage_lhn_snap.

WHA (Women's Healthcare Australasia) 2007. Supporting excellence in maternity care: the core maternity indicators project: findings from the core maternity indicators project. Canberra: WHA.