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Table 3 Birth characteristics in Western Australia (2000–2013) and New South Wales (2002–2008) by plurality and Aboriginality

From: Pregnancy and birth characteristics of Aboriginal twins in two Australian states: a data linkage study

 

Western Australia

(2000–2013)

New South Wales

(2002–2008)

 

Aboriginal

Aboriginal

Non-Aboriginal

 

Characteristic

Twin

N = 880

n (%)

Singleton

N = 33,229

n (%)

Twin

N = 794

n (%)

Singleton

N = 31,524

n (%)

Twin

N = 18,338

n (%)

Singleton

N = 582,355

n (%)

 

Groups compared and statistical significance reported1

A

A

B

B

C

C

 
  

D

 

D

  

Hospital category for birthABCD

 Public principal referral/women’s

573 (65)

8608 (26)

324 (41)

8204 (26)

8689 (47)

189,260 (32)

 

 Large public

141 (16)

9397 (28)

394 (50)

17,171 (54)

4595 (25)

209,070 (36)

 

 Medium/small public

105 (12)

12,032 (36)

42 (5)

4759 (15)

318 (2)

35,198 (6)

 

 Private

54 (6)

2730 (8)

28 (4)

1201 (4)

4658 (25)

146,078 (25)

 

 Born outside hospital

7 (1)

345 (1)

6 (1)

189 (1)

78 (< 1)

2749 (< 1)

 

Mother transferred prior to birth2,ABCd

116 (13)

1358 (4)

40 (17)

559 (6)

616 (11)

3456 (2)

 

Time from home to hospital (median (IQR))ABCD

38 (20, 401)

19 (9, 51)

21 (11, 49)

19 (10, 39)

20 (11, 35)

17 (11, 28)

 

 0–29 min

324 (37)

19,695 (60)

440 (56)

20,668 (66)

12,631 (69)

437,239 (76)

 

 30–59 min

146 (17)

3110 (9)

174 (22)

5833 (19)

3604 (20)

103,700 (18)

 

 1 h-2 h

80 (9)

2889 (9)

108 (14)

3522 (11)

1558 (9)

31,413 (5)

 

 3 h or greater

269 (31)

4342 (13)

66 (8)

1227 (4)

392 (2)

4529 (1)

 

 Location of WA private hospital unknown

54 (6)

2730 (8)

–

–

–

–

 

PresentationABC

 Vertex

558 (63)

31,693 (95)

196 (67)

11,957 (96)

4532 (73)

200,288 (96)

 

 Breech

291 (33)

1165 (4)

84 (29)

389 (3)

1482 (24)

7561 (4)

 

 Other

31 (4)

371 (1)

11 (4)

97 (1)

215 (3)

1581 (1)

 

DeliveryABCD

 Vaginal birth

427 (49)

25,564 (77)

317 (40)

24,469 (78)

6765 (37)

421,801 (72)

 

  Spontaneous labour

258 (29)

19,269 (58)

212 (27)

18,411 (58)

3706 (20)

302,880 (52)

 

  Induced labour

169 (19)

6295 (19)

105 (13)

6058 (19)

3059 (17)

118,921 (20)

 

 Caesarean

453 (51)

7665 (23)

477 (60)

7022 (22)

11,567 (63)

160,129 (28)

 

  Labour

   Spontaneous labour

134 (15)

2279 (7)

187 (24)

2112 (7)

3032 (17)

40,546 (7)

 

   Induced labour

39 (4)

1440 (4)

16 (2)

1225 (4)

849 (5)

27,946 (5)

 

   No labour

280 (32)

3946 (12)

274 (35)

3685 (12)

7686 (42)

91,637 (16)

 

  Planned/emergency

  

–

–

–

–

 

   Planned caesarean

166 (19)

2999 (9)

–

–

–

–

 

   Emergency caesarean

287 (33)

4666 (14)

–

–

–

–

 

Instruments usedCd

 No

803 (91)

30,084 (91)

755 (95)

29,526 (94)

16,912 (92)

519,869 (89)

 

 Yes

77 (9)

3145 (9)

39 (5)

1973 (6)

1420 (8)

62,182 (11)

 

Accoucheur (WA)3

      

Model of care (NSW)3

 ObstetricianA

319 (36)

5683 (17)

42 (14)

1298 (10)

2818 (45)

75,804 (36)

Private obstetricianbCD

 Other medical practitionerA

553 (63)

8842 (27)

223 (76)

5274 (42)

3274 (52)

77,227 (37)

Hospital-based medicalbCD

 MidwifeA

195 (22)

19,998 (60)

30 (10)

2260 (18)

150 (2)

15,807 (8)

General practitionerBCD

 StudentA

82 (9)

4569 (14)

192 (65)

8948 (72)

3570 (57)

132,379 (63)

Hospital-based midwifebCd

 Self/other/unknown

28 (3)

855 (3)

0 (0)

20 (< 1)

9 (< 1)

519 (< 1)

Independent midwife

  1. IQR Interquartile range. 1The superscripts ABCDabcd which appear next to the demographic factors indicate whether two groups were statistically significantly different: A or a for a comparison of WA Aboriginal singletons and twins; B or b for a comparison of NSW Aboriginal singletons and twins; C or c for a comparison of NSW non-Aboriginal singletons and twins; and D or d for a comparison of NSW Aboriginal twins and NSW non-Aboriginal twins. Pearson’s chi-squared tests were conducted. A capital letter indicates p < 0.001 and a lower-case letter indicates 0.001 < p < 0.05. 2Mother transferred prior to birth was only collected comprehensively from 2007 in NSW so only data from 2007 and 2008 births are reported. 3Categories of accoucheur (WA) and model of care (NSW) are not mutually exclusive. Data were missing for: hospital category for birth (117 infants in WA, 0 in NSW), mother transferred prior to the birth (434 infants in WA, 440817 in NSW), time from home to hospital (469 infants in WA, 5907 in NSW), presentation (0 infants in WA, 404617 in NSW), delivery (0 infants in WA, 464 in NSW), instruments used (0 infants in WA, 335 in NSW), and model of care (404,184 in NSW)
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