Table 2.
Socio-demographic and birthing profile by sample
| Characteristic | Having a Baby in Queensland 2010 sample | Queensland birthing population, 2010 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respondents assessed in this study | Respondents completing the open-ended item | Total respondents | ||||||
| (n = 150) | (n = 1,510) | (n = 3,635) | ( n = 61,027) a | |||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| Maternal age (years) | ||||||||
| < 20 | 2 | 1.3 | 23 | 1.5 | 80 | 2.2 | 3,344 | 5.5 |
| 20-24 | 17 | 11.3 | 160 | 10.6 | 396 | 10.9 | 10,616 | 17.4 |
| 25-29 | 39 | 26.0 | 403 | 26.7 | 951 | 26.2 | 17,314 | 28.4 |
| 30-34 | 49 | 32.7 | 476 | 31.5 | 1,168 | 32.1 | 17,607 | 28.9 |
| 35-39 | 26 | 17.3 | 288 | 19.1 | 664 | 18.3 | 10,037 | 16.5 |
| ≥ 40 | 8 | 5.3 | 69 | 4.6 | 137 | 3.8 | 2,109 | 3.5 |
| Missing | 9 | 91 | 239 | 0 | ||||
| Educationb | ||||||||
| No formal qualifications | 2 | 1.3 | 20 | 1.3 | 57 | 1.6 | - | - |
| Year 10 or 12 equivalent | 31 | 20.7 | 369 | 24.4 | 984 | 27.1 | - | - |
| Trade/apprenticeship, certificate/diploma | 58 | 38.7 | 452 | 29.9 | 1,086 | 29.9 | - | - |
| Bachelor degree or higher | 59 | 39.3 | 666 | 44.1 | 1,486 | 40.9 | - | - |
| Missing | 0 | 3 | 22 | - | - | |||
| Area of residence | ||||||||
| Major city | 98 | 65.3 | 969 | 64.2 | 2,281 | 62.8 | 36,263 | 59.4 |
| Regional (inner and outer) | 48 | 32.0 | 473 | 31.4 | 1,201 | 33.1 | 22,241 | 36.4 |
| Remote and very remote | 2 | 1.3 | 37 | 2.5 | 82 | 2.3 | 1,921 | 3.1 |
| Outside Queensland | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0.9 | 30 | 0.8 | 602 | 1.0 |
| Missing | 2 | 17 | 41 | 0 | ||||
| Mode of birth | ||||||||
| Unassisted vaginal | 82 | 54.7 | 834 | 55.2 | 2,026 | 55.7 | 35,077 | 57.5 |
| Assisted vaginal | 18 | 12.0 | 185 | 12.3 | 420 | 11.6 | 5,892 | 9.7 |
| Caesarean section | 49 | 32.7 | 487 | 32.3 | 1,172 | 32.2 | 20,058 | 32.9 |
| Missing | 1 | 4 | 17 | 0 | ||||
| Parity | ||||||||
| Primipara | 70 | 46.7 | 731 | 48.4 | 1,646 | 45.3 | 24,878 | 40.8 |
| Multipara | 80 | 53.3 | 777 | 51.5 | 1,969 | 54.2 | 36,149 | 59.2 |
| Missing | 0 | 2 | 20 | 0 | ||||
| Place of birth | ||||||||
| Hospital (public) | 96 | 64.0 | 863 | 57.2 | 2,043 | 56.2 | 41,509 | 68.0 |
| Hospital (private) | 45 | 30.0 | 576 | 38.1 | 1,466 | 40.3 | 18,344 | 30.1 |
| Birth centre | 4 | 2.7 | 41 | 2.7 | 72 | 2.0 | 674 | 1.1 |
| Home birth | 3 | 2.0 | 23 | 1.5 | 28 | 0.8 | 85 | 0.1 |
| Other | 2 | 1.3 | 5 | 0.3 | 12 | 0.3 | 415 | 0.7 |
| Missing | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0 | ||||
aFigures from AIHW 2010 [18]. bHighest level of education. Maternal education was not reported by AIHW in 2010.