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Definition

The number of women who gave birth and had at least one antenatal visit in the first trimester, expressed as a percentage of all women who gave birth.

An antenatal care visit is an intentional encounter between a pregnant woman and a midwife or doctor to assess and improve maternal and fetal well-being throughout pregnancy and prior to labour. An antenatal care visit does not include a visit where the sole purpose of contact is to confirm the pregnancy only, or those contacts that occurred during the pregnancy that related to other non-pregnancy related issues (see Female—number of antenatal care visits, total N[N])

Indicator Summary

Numerator

For all women, the number of women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had at least one antenatal in the first trimester.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had at least one antenatal in the first trimester.

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Denominator

For all women, the number of women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had a known gestation at first antenatal visit.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had a known gestation at first antenatal visit.

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Computation

First trimester is defined as within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

Births include both live births and stillbirths of at least 20 weeks gestation or 400 grams birth weight.

The percentages of women who gave birth and had at least one antenatal visit in the first trimester are calculated at Medicare Local catchment and Medicare Local peer group levels …

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Disaggregation

The percentages of women who gave birth and had at least one antenatal visit in the first trimester are calculated at Medicare Local catchment and Medicare Local peer group levels for:

  • All women who gave birth during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011.

For 2007–2011, Indigenous status of mother is derived from …

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Calculation rules

Computation Rule
Description

First trimester is defined as within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

Births include both live births and stillbirths of at least 20 weeks gestation or 400 grams birth weight.

The percentages of women who gave birth and had at least one antenatal visit in the first trimester are calculated at Medicare Local catchment and Medicare Local peer group levels for:

  • All women who gave birth during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011.

Analysis by Medicare Local catchment and Medicare Local peer group is based on Statistical Local Area (SLA) of usual residence of the mother, irrespective of where the birth occurred.

Women who gave birth at any time during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011 are included. Therefore, women who gave birth more than once during the two-year period are counted for each birth.

Women whose gestation at first antenatal visit was unknown or not stated are excluded.

Australian non-residents and residents of external territories are excluded.

State and territory differences in definitions and methods used for data collection affect the comparability of these data across state and territory jurisdictions and lower levels of geography within these jurisdictions. The following caveats apply to the data for 2010 and 2011:

  • In Western Australia, gestational age at the first antenatal visit is reported by birth hospital, therefore data may not be available for women who attend their first antenatal visit outside the birth hospital
  • In Tasmania, data on duration of pregnancy at the first antenatal visit was not reported by hospitals still using the paper-based form for collection of NPDC data, so these data should be interpreted with caution
  • In the Australian Capital Territory, the first hospital antenatal clinic visit is often reported as the first antenatal visit and, in many cases, earlier antenatal care provided by the woman’s GP is not reported.
Numerators

For all women, the number of women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had at least one antenatal in the first trimester.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had at least one antenatal in the first trimester.

Denominators

For all women, the number of women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had a known gestation at first antenatal visit.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 and had a known gestation at first antenatal visit.

Disaggregation

The percentages of women who gave birth and had at least one antenatal visit in the first trimester are calculated at Medicare Local catchment and Medicare Local peer group levels for:

  • All women who gave birth during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who gave birth during the two calendar years from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011.

For 2007–2011, Indigenous status of mother is derived from Person—Indigenous status, code N.

For 2010 and 2011, Medicare Local catchment is derived from Person—area of usual residence, geographical location code (ASGC 2009) NNNNN and Person—area of usual residence, geographical location code (ASGC 2010) NNNNN.

Medicare Locals plan and fund health services in communities across Australia. They help to ensure patients can access the care they need, particularly when a variety of health workers are involved in providing treatments. A Medicare Local catchment refers to the geographic area of a Medical Local (see Administrative health region—Medicare Local identifier, code AANNN)

Medicare Local peer groups are the grouping of the 61 Medicare Locals into seven peer groups, which allows Medicare Locals to be compared to other Medicare Locals with similar characteristics, and to the average for their peer group (see Administrative health region—Medicare Local peer group, code N). This grouping was undertaken by the National Health Performance Authority using statistical cluster analysis of 2006 Census based socioeconomic status for each Medicare Local and, 2006 Census based Remoteness Area categories (ABS cat. no. 2039.0). Additional information on the average distance to the closest large city and major hospital (A1 public hospital peer group classification, 2010–11) contributed to the assignment of Medicare Locals to peer groups. Groupings were tested for face validity with a stakeholder group. The National Health Performance Authority has created 7 peer groups: Metro 1 to 3, Regional 1 and 2 and Rural 1 and 2. See Healthy Communities: Australians’ experiences with primary health care in 2010–11, Technical Supplement for more information.

Comments

Origin:
Healthy Communities

References

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