Abstract
AbstractAll pregnancies to Bourke residents ending over the three years from 1983 to 1985 (a total of 340) were retrospectively studied. Bourke Aboriginal women were more fertile and fell pregnant at a younger age than their non‐Aboriginal counterparts. Aborigines had eight times the perinatal mortality, much of which was still birth associated with syphilis. Syphilis occurred in 16 per cent of Aboriginal pregnancies reaching 20 weeks gestation but there were none among non‐Aboriginal pregnancies.The birth rate of Aborigines has declined to almost half that of 1964–72, probably as a result of more accessible contraception. The birth weight of Aboriginal babies has also decreased coincidentally with an increase in tobacco smoking, unemployment and obesity among young Aboriginal adults. Improvements in the morbidity associated with Aboriginal pregnancies will require changes in education and the social inequality that exists in Bourke.
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