The number of females who gave birth by caesarean section and had a general anaesthetic, divided by the number of females who gave birth by caesarean section and recorded a permissible value for general anaesthetic, 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.

Caesarean section is an operative procedure to remove the baby through an incision through the female's abdomen and uterus.

Included are those females who gave birth by caesarean section.

Excluded are those females who gave birth through the vagina.

100 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

The number of females who gave birth by caesarean section and had a general anaesthetic.

Number of females who gave birth by caesarean section and recorded a permissible value for general anaesthetic.

• 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
• Labour/non-labour
• 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. Only records with a permissible value have been included in the denominator.

Source of definition: Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Indicator 4.1: General anaesthesia for caesarean section. This ACHS indicator is based on the definition by Women's Healthcare Australasia Core Maternity Indicators Project (WHA 2007).

N[NN.N]

ACHS (The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Health Services Research Group, University of Newcastle) 2014. The Australasian Clinical Indicator Report: 2006-2013. 15th edn. Sydney: ACHS. Viewed 9 April 2018, https://www.achs.org.au/media/88679/clinical_indicator_report_2006_2013.pdf.

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.