Page last updated: 26-SEP-2008

Births & Babies

Key points

  • Babies born in Scotland  : There   were 53,024 live births recorded in Scottish hospitals in the year ending March 2006 and 55,363 in the year ending March 2007. 
  • Mothers are getting older: A steady increase has been observed in the proportion of births to mothers aged 30-34, from 13% in 1976 to a peak of 30% in 2005.  Although this has fallen slightly to 29% in 2006 and 28% in 2007, it is now the most common age to have a baby.  There has also been a steady rise in the proportion of births to women aged 35 and over, from 6% in 1976 to 20% in each of the last 3 years, and the number of births in this age group now exceeds that in those aged 20-24.
  • Smoking in pregnancy: The overall percentage of women who report smoking at the time of their first antenatal booking has decreased consistently from 29.0% in 1995 to 21.7% in 2006 and a low of 20.9% in 2007.  However, it should be noted that the percentage of ?unknowns? has risen from 5% in 1995 to 9.4% in 2006 and 11.9% in 2007 and that this may include a proportion of smokers.
  • Caesarean section: In singleton births, the emergency caesarean section rate increased from 3.9% in 1976 to a peak of 15.4% in 2006 with a slight drop to 15.0% in 2007.  The rate of elective* or planned caesareans also rose from 4.7% in 1976 to 9.1% in 2006 and 9.7% in 2007.  Together this resulted in an overall increase in caesarean section rates from 8.6% in 1976 to 24.5% in 2006 and 24.7% in 2007. [*An elective caesarean section refers to a caesarean section, which has been planned in advance and in most cases will have been recommended for clinical reasons such as breech or multiple births or previous caesarean section.  It may also be the case that the woman will have chosen this method of delivery for non-clinical reasons.]  
  • Forceps deliveries:   have fallen from 13.4% in 1976 to 7.6% in 2006 with a slight rise to 8.4% in 2007.
  • Premature babies:   the percentage of pre-term (premature) singleton babies has risen from 5.2% in 1976 to 6.6% in 2006 and 6.2% in 2007.
  • Deprivation: the most common age for starting a family in areas of low deprivation is 32, which is 13 years later than the most common age in areas of high deprivation.
  • Low birth-weight:   In singleton births a low birth-weight baby (less than 2500g) is 3 times more likely to be born to a mother living in an area of high deprivation than to a mother living in an area of low deprivation.
  • Miscarriage: There is a general downward trend in the number of miscarriages, falling from 7508 in 1998 to 5960 in 2007.   However, it is likely that some, particularly early, miscarriages are either managed solely by General Practitioners or may not be recognised by the women and so are never referred to hospital.

 


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