National Core Maternity Indicators: PI 06–Caesarean section for selected females giving birth for the first time, 2021

Collection and usage attributes

20 years

34 years

The number of selected females giving birth for the first time who gave birth by caesarean section, divided by all selected females, and multiplied by 100.

Selected females criteria: Females included are those who gave birth for the first time and met all of the following criteria:

• aged between 20 and 34
• gestational age at birth between 37 and 41 completed weeks
• pregnancy has one baby only (singleton)
• the presentation of the baby is vertex (baby's head was at the cervix)

Excluded are those females who have given birth prior to the current birth or who did not meet the selected females criteria.

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 a female's abdomen and uterus.

Gestational age is a clinical measure of the duration of the pregnancy. For the National Perinatal Data Collection gestational age is reported as completed weeks.

100 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

The number of selected females giving birth for the first time who gave birth by caesarean section.

All selected females.

• Year of birth
• State or territory of birth
• Hospital annual number of births
• Remoteness category (from mother's area of usual residence)
• Indigenous status of mother
• Disadvantage quintile (from mother's area of usual residence)
• Hospital sector
• 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.

For Tasmania from 2004 to 2012, presentations via caesarean births were not reported by hospitals still using paper-based forms. Where a caesarean section occurred the presentation was recorded as 'Not stated'. Presentations via caesarean births was included in the paper-based form from 1 January 2013. As a result, Tasmania can only be reported 2013 onwards for selected females.

Data for parity were not available from Victoria in 2009. As a result 2009 data for selected females cannot be reported for Victoria

Source of definition: Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Indicator 1.4: Selected women giving birth for the first time undergoing caesarean section. This ACHS indicator is based on the definition by Women's Healthcare Australasia Core Maternity Indicators Project (WHA 2007).

Representational attributes

N[NN.N]

Data source attributes

Source and reference attributes

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

ACHS (The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards) 2020. The Australasian Clinical Indicator Report: 2012-2019. 21st edn. Sydney: ACHS. Viewed 11 November 2021, https://www.achs.org.au/our-services/pos/previous-acir-publications.

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.

Relational attributes