Limitations
This report is focused on maternal and perinatal characteristics and outcomes during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data sources used (predominantly the National Perinatal Data Collection) do not include information on COVID-19 infection, vaccination or other pandemic-related factors. Therefore, the report describes the changes during the early years of the pandemic but is not able to attribute these changes to the pandemic.
Changes in expected trends during the pandemic years – when compared with the trend for pre-pandemic years – may be related to a combination of factors including those related to the pandemic such as maternal COVID-19 infection or individual, societal, public health or health service factors, or other events and effects unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic followed events such as the severe bushfires in Australia during end-2019 and early-2020. During the pandemic period, there were also a number of severe floods across Australia. As such, it is not possible to distinguish between the effects of these and other events and the impact of the pandemic.
Information on the COVID-19 vaccination and infection status of women included in this report are not collected as part of the National Perinatal Data Collection (NPDC) or National Perinatal Mortality Data Collection (NPMDC). Consequently, direct links cannot be made between COVID-19 vaccination and infection and their impact on maternal and perinatal outcomes.
Data linkage between the NPDC and NPMDC and other national data assets such as the National Health Data Hub, which is integrating data from the COVID-19 Register and Australian Immunisation Register, may be able to explore these interactions and impacts on maternal and perinatal outcomes in future.
This report does not include a breakdown of the data by specific population groups, such as First Nations and diverse populations. Please see Australia’s mothers and babies for information on specific population groups during the years covered by this report.