Caesarean-section rates in Australia: a population-based audit.

Caesarean-section rates are increasing rapidly in Australia, and in many other Western countries. Private health-fund data for each State of Australia show marked differences in caesarean-section rates between States. Comparison between Western Australia and South Australia showed that these differences could be related to the proportion of specialist obstetricians per capita in each of the States. Although stillbirth rates are lower in the States with high caesarean-section rates, perinatal mortality rates, which include stillbirths, are not significantly different between States. Since the populations of Australian States are reasonably homogeneous, justification for performing more caesarean sections must be questioned.