Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Pregnancy Outcome Unit

The Pregnancy Outcome Unit monitors trends in pregnancy characteristics and outcomes across South Australia.

What is the Preg­nan­cy Out­come Unit?

The Preg­nan­cy Out­come Unit (POU) helps track preg­nan­cy char­ac­ter­is­tics and out­comes over time across South Australia.

This data helps iden­ti­fy pop­u­la­tion groups at high­er risk, inform pre­ven­tive activ­i­ties and sup­port the health and well­be­ing of South Aus­tralian families.

The POU man­ages the fol­low­ing data collections:

  • Peri­na­tal sta­tis­tics: The Peri­na­tal Sta­tis­tics Col­lec­tion is based on mid­wife noti­fi­ca­tions of South Aus­tralian births since 1981. Data are pro­vid­ed to the Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Health and Wel­fare (AIHW) and con­tributes to nation­al report­ing, includ­ing ​‘Australia’s Moth­ers and Babies’ and oth­er nation­al reports such as those on births to Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander women.
  • Ter­mi­na­tion of preg­nan­cy sta­tis­tics: Ter­mi­na­tion of preg­nan­cy sta­tis­tics have been col­lat­ed from reg­is­tered health prac­ti­tion­er noti­fi­ca­tions since 1970.
  • Mater­nal and peri­na­tal deaths sta­tis­tics: Mater­nal and peri­na­tal deaths have been col­lat­ed for review by the South Aus­tralian Mater­nal and Peri­na­tal Mor­tal­i­ty Com­mit­tee for qual­i­ty assur­ance and mon­i­tor­ing pat­terns of cause of death since 1986. An ear­li­er com­mit­tee col­lect­ed mater­nal death data from 1961 and peri­na­tal death data from 1979.

The POU also con­tributes impor­tant data to sup­port the ongo­ing work of the South Aus­tralian Birth Defects Reg­is­ter at the Women’s and Children’s Hos­pi­tal. South Aus­tralian data on con­gen­i­tal anom­alies are also pro­vid­ed to the AIHW for nation­al and inter­na­tion­al sur­veil­lance purposes.

Data about preg­nan­cy out­comes in South Australia

You can find data and charts about preg­nan­cy out­comes in South Aus­tralia, including:

  • mater­nal place of res­i­dence map
  • mater­nal demographics
  • preg­nan­cy and labour
  • trends in baby outcomes
  • trends in moth­er demographics
  • trends in preg­nan­cy and labour.
Pregnancy Outcomes in South Australia Reports
Termination of Pregnancy in South Australia Reports
Maternal and Perinatal Mortality in South Australia Reports
Archived recommendations

Many South Aus­tralian Mater­nal and Peri­na­tal Mor­tal­i­ty Com­mit­tee rec­om­men­da­tions have been incor­po­rat­ed into South Aus­tralian poli­cies, stan­dards or guidelines.

For a com­plete list of rec­om­men­da­tions made by the com­mit­tee in pre­vi­ous years, refer to:

For copies of old­er reports, email us at CEIH@​sa.​gov.​au.

Noti­fy­ing ter­mi­na­tion of pregnancy

Access the Ter­mi­na­tion of Preg­nan­cy noti­fi­ca­tion form, report­ing require­ments and sub­mis­sion options.

More infor­ma­tion

To request data from one of the POU data col­lec­tions, sub­mit a data request form.

Have a question?

Email us at CEIH@​sa.​gov.​au.