Caesarean-section rates in Australia: a population-based audit

Caesarean-section rates are increasing rapidly in Australia, and in many other Western countries. Private health-fund data for each State of Australia show marked differences in caesarean-section rates between States. Comparison between Western Australia and South Australia showed that these differe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMedical journal of Australia Vol. 2; no. 13; p. 706
Main Authors Opit, L J, Selwood, T S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Australia 29.12.1979
Subjects
Adult
Australia
Cesarean Section - trends
Family Practice
Female
Humans
Infant Mortality
Infant, Newborn
Medical Audit
Medicine
Obstetrics - trends
Population
Pregnancy
Specialization
Utilization Review
Australia
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Summary:Caesarean-section rates are increasing rapidly in Australia, and in many other Western countries. Private health-fund data for each State of Australia show marked differences in caesarean-section rates between States. Comparison between Western Australia and South Australia showed that these differences could be related to the proportion of specialist obstetricians per capita in each of the States. Although stillbirth rates are lower in the States with high caesarean-section rates, perinatal mortality rates, which include stillbirths, are not significantly different between States. Since the populations of Australian States are reasonably homogeneous, justification for performing more caesarean sections must be questioned.
ISSN:0025-729X
DOI:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1979.tb104312.x