http://www.isdscotland.org/ Maternity and Births Health statistics Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:00:00 GMT Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:00:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/rss ISD Scotland NSS.isdexternalwebsite@nhs.net (ISD Web Team) NSS.isdexternalwebsite@nhs.net (ISD Web Team) http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#897 Rates of stillbirths and deaths: Lowest ever recorded stillbirth rate in Scotland The rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths and infant deaths (all deaths in the first year) were the lowest ever recorded in Scotland as was the perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths plus deaths in the first week of life). The rate of post-neonatal deaths equalled the lowest ever recorded. Stillbirth rate 4.9 per 1000 births Neonatal death rate 2.6 per 1000 live births Perinatal mortality rate 6.9 per 1000 births Post-neonatal deaths 1.2 per 1000 live births Infant mortality rate 3.7 per 1000 live birthsTotal births and deaths in 2010: There were 59,082 births, 281 fewer than in 2009, reversing the steady rise since 2002. A total of 661 deaths were notified to the SSBIDS, comprising 152 late fetal deaths, 291 stillbirths, 150 neonatal deaths and 68 post-neonatal deaths.Causes of stillbirths and neonatal deaths: The most frequent identifiable causes of stillbirth were antepartum haemorrhage (bleeding in pregnancy) and congenital abnormality of the baby but 62% had no obvious explanation. Examination of the placenta, however, showed an abnormality in 62% of these “unexplained” stillbirths and 29% of these babies had evidence of poor growth in the womb. Prematurity was the most common problem associated with neonatal deaths, accounting for 33% while congenital abnormality caused 23% of neonatal deaths.Other findings: The postmortem rate for stillbirths rose to 63% from 59% in 2009. The placenta was examined histologically in 80% of stillbirths. There is an association between obesity and stillbirth and between infant death and smoking and deprivation. Antenatal screening reduces the rates of neural tube defects and Down's syndrome at birth.NHS Board variations: Variations in the rates of stillbirths and neonatal deaths between NHS Boards are likely to be related to random variation and to differing registration practices. Possible additional reasons for an increased stillbirth rate in one board area are being investigated.Commentary: Commentary is provided on some of the factors which may have contributed to a fall in all death rates. Further improvements to neonatal death registration, data collection, death classification and reporting are also discussed and form the basis of some of the recommendations. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:30:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#897 http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#600 Babies born in Scotland: There were 58,356 births recorded on SMR02 for year ending March 2010. This compares to 58,884 (provisional) births registered in Scotland by the National Records Service in the same time period.Mothers are getting older: There was a steady increase in the proportion of births to mothers aged 30-34, from 13% in 1976 to a peak of 31% in 2002, but this has now declined slightly to 27% in 2010. The proportion of births to mothers in the 35-39 group climbed steadily to 17% in 2008 from 4% twenty years ago and has now decreased to 16%. Nearly 4% of births are to mothers aged forty and over compared to less than 1% during the 1980s.Smoking in pregnancy: The overall percentage of women who reported smoking at the time of their first antenatal booking has decreased consistently from 29.0% in 1995 to 18.8% in 2010. However, it should be noted that the percentage of 'unknowns' has risen from 5% in 1995 to 10.7% in 2010 and that this may include a proportion of smokers. This is an improvement on 2009, when ‘unknowns’ accounted for 14.2%. There is known to be considerable under-reporting of smoking by pregnant women themselves.Caesarean section: In singleton births, the emergency caesarean section rate increased from 3.9% in 1976 to a peak of 15.4% in 2006, followed by a slight drop in the last 4 years to 14.8%. The rate of elective* or planned caesarean sections has continued to rise from 4.7% in 1976, to 10.5% in 2010. Together this has resulted in an overall increase in caesarean section rates from 8.6% in 1976 to 25.4% in 2010. Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:30:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#600 http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#584 The teenage pregnancy rate has been fairly steady for the past decade with a small drop over the last 3 years. In 2009, in the under 16 age group there were 7.1 pregnancies per 1,000, down from 7.8 in 2008. In mainland NHS boards in 2009, NHS Borders recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy in all three age groups (under 16 age group - 4.9 per 1,000). NHS Fife has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in 2009 for the under 16 age group (10.1 per 1,000). In the under 18 and 20 age groups the highest rates were in NHS Tayside.Over the years there has been a change in the balance between teenage conceptions which are aborted and those which continue to delivery. In the under 18 and under 20 age groups the rate of abortion has fallen slightly but still remains considerably lower than the delivery rate.There is a strong deprivation gradient. In the under 20 age group, the most deprived areas have approximately ten times the rate of delivery as the least deprived (65.3 per 1,000 and 7.6 per 1,000). Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:30:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#584 http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#742 Births in Scotland fell slightly in 2009 for the first time since 2002.The perinatal mortality rate (7.4 per 1000 births) is the same as 2008 which was the lowest ever recorded.The rate of stillbirths remains unchanged at 5.3 per 1000 births.There were 70 deaths between one month and one year of age. This is the lowest number ever. Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:30:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#742 http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#535 The number of births in Scotland is increasingThere was a steady increase in the proportion of births to mothers aged 30-34, from 13% in 1976 to a peak of 31% in 2002 but this has now declined slightly to 26.5% in 2009. There has also been a steady rise in the proportion of births to women aged 35-39, from 5% in 1976 to 17% in each of the last 4 years. Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:30:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#535 http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#543#543 The teenage pregnancy rate has been fairly steady for the past decade. In 2008, in the under 16 age group there were 7.9 pregnancies per 1,000, down from 8.1 in 2007. The rates in the older age groups have also reduced, with the under 18s dropping from 42.4 per 1,000 in 2007 to 40.4 per 1,000 in 2008 and the under 20s from 58.6 per 1,000 to 55.7 per 1,000.Over the years there has been a change in the balance between teenage conceptions which are aborted and those which continue to delivery. In the under 18 and under 20 age groups the rate of abortion has fallen slightly but still remains considerably lower than the delivery rate. The delivery rates in the under 18 and 20 groups are the lowest since 1994. In the under 16 year age group the abortion rate has been higher than the delivery rate since 2001.There is a strong deprivation gradient. In the under 20s, the most deprived groups have approximately ten times the rate of delivery as the least deprived (67.3 per 1,000 and 7.2 per 1,000) and nearly twice the rate of abortion (29.4 per 1,000 and 16.6 per 1,000) These proportions have not varied much over the most recently available nine years, and do not vary much with age. Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:30:00 GMT http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Maternity-and-Births/Publications/index.asp#543#543