A perinatal perspective on South Australia in the 1980s

Abstract

Objective: To assess changes in sociodemographic characteristics of mothers, their obstetric management and perinatal outcomes in the 1980s.

Design: A survey of data recorded in the South Australian perinatal data collection. For singleton births, we compared risks of stillbirth, neonatal death and perinatal death by year of birth, after adjusting for risk factors.

Subjects: There were 176,637 births of at least 400 g birthweight (or at least 20 weeks' gestation) notified to the perinatal data collection between 1981 and 1989.

Main outcome measures: Frequency of risk factors and relative risks of stillbirth, neonatal death and perinatal death by year of birth.

Results: There have been changes in the sociodemographic characteristics of mothers, their obstetric management and perinatal outcomes during the 1980s. Crude perinatal mortality rates have not increased, despite increases in the frequency of low birthweight, preterm births, mothers aged 35 years and over, and some other risk factors. After adjusting for risk factors, the risks of stillbirth, neonatal death and perinatal death were lower among singletons in 1987-1989 than in the 1981-1982 reference period.

Conclusion: Advances in clinical management may be preventing increases in stillbirths, neonatal deaths and perinatal deaths in response to increased numbers of births with low birthweight, preterm delivery and some other risk factors in South Australia.