Table 3 Selected demographics, maternal obstetric history and maternal and perinatal outcomes among Australian-born women and women born in most common migrant groups, N=691,738

Maternal age (mean SD)

29.8 (5.59)

30.2 (5.95)

33.8 (4.66)

32.8 (4.91)

30.9 (4.90)

29.3 (5.90)

31.2 (5.72)

30.1 (4.29)

31.5 (5.27)

<0.0001*

Teenage pregnancy

5.1%

2.4%

0.3%

0.2%

0.4%

1.5%

1.1%

0.1%

0.5%

<0.0001

Pregnancy ≥35 years

17.8%

22.8%

42.1%

33.8%

20.5%

18.4%

27.1%

13.2%

26.0%

<0.0001

Primiparous

41.2%

39.6%

45.6%

50.0%

43.2%

27.7%

40.5%

52.9%

43.3%

<0.0001

Smoking

18.3%

22.6%

8.3%

0.5%

1.3%

8.6%

3.9%

1.6%

4.8%

<0.0001

Birth in a private hospital

26.0%

14.0%

25.8%

13.1%

11.5%

8.4%

12.5%

18.5%

20.2%

<0.0001

Hypertensive Disease of Pregnancy

6.0%

6.5%

6.3%

2.8%

2.5%

3.1%

6.8%

4.6%

4.8%

<0.0001

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

3.1%

3.3%

3.6%

13.8%

11.4%

6.4%

9.8%

9.6%

7.0%

<0.0001

Gestation at delivery (mean SD)

39.1 (2.06)

39.2 (2.12)

39.2 (1.97)

39.1 (1.90)

38.9 (2.04)

39.2 (2.07)

38.7 (2.09)

39.0 (2.05)

39.1 (2.06)

<0.0001*

Pre-term birth (<37 weeks)

6.0%

6.1%

4.8%

4.3%

6.0%

4.8%

7.1%

5.7%

5.5%

<0.0001

Spontaneous labour

58.2%

64.8%

58.1%

66.1%

75.4%

69.4%

69.4%

60.7%

64.1%

<0.0001

Normal vaginal delivery

62.9%

67.8%

58.7%

57.1%

69.0%

76.8%

58.9%

52.6%

61.9%

<0.0001

Assisted vaginal delivery

10.1%

8.9%

12.4%

13.9%

11.4%

5.9%

11.3%

16.3%

11.1%

<0.0001

Caesarean section (elective)

15.2%

12.1%

16.5%

15.7%

9.9%

10.1%

14.6%

14.6%

14.6%

<0.0001

Caesarean section (emergency)

11.3%

10.7%

12.0%

12.9%

9.2%

6.8%

14.7%

16.0%

11.9%

<0.0001

Stillbirth/1000 births

5.2/1 000

5.6/1 000

3.6/1 000

4.1/1 000

4.3/1 000

7.2/1 000

5.6/1 000

5.9/1 000

5.5/1 000

0.001

Neonatal death/1000 live births

1.9/1 000

2.3/1 000

1.8/1 000

1.6/1 000

2.2/1 000

2.5/1 000

1.7/1 000

2.5/1 000

1.9/1 000

0.57

Epidural usage

27.4%

23.4%

34.3%

27.7%

12.0%

13.2%

23.6%

33.8%

28.1%

<0.0001

No pain relief for labour

8.1%

11.9%

6.3%

5.2%

9.1%

13.9%

8.1%

3.5%

8.3%

<0.0001

Episiotomy

14.3%

10.6%

16.3%

23.8%

27.7%

9.2%

19.2%

31.5%

18.2%

<0.0001

Severe perineal trauma #

1.6%

1.4%

1.8%

1.6%

1.3%

1.4%

1.9%

1.4%

1.6%

0.10

Severe perineal trauma (primiparous women only)#

1.6%

1.6%

1.9%

1.9%

1.5%

1.2%

2.2%

1.2%

1.5%

0.04

Birth weight (mean SD)

3423 (580.4)

3449 (588.6)

3451 (547.7)

3350 (513.2)

3196 (502.2)

3393 (549.4)

3255 (545.5)

3157 (537.4)

3354 (566.9)

<0.0001

Birth weight <10th centile

9.4%

8.8%

8.3%

10.4%

15.8%

10.6%

12.9%

22.2%

11.9%

<0.0001

Birth weight <3rd centile

2.8%

2.7%

2.3%

2.6%

4.6%

2.9%

3.5%

8.1%

3.4%

<0.0001

5 minute Apgar <7

2.0%

2.1%

1.8%

1.5%

2.3%

2.1%

2.1%

2.1%

2.0%

<0001