Pre-term Birth Rate
Post-term Birth Rate
Preterm birth includes any live birth that occurs between 20 and 36 weeks (less than 259 days) of gestation. Preterm births are the leading cause of neonatal and infant mortality in Canada and other industrialized countries.
Post-term births are the number of live births that occur at 42 weeks (294 days) of gestation or more. Post-term births are associated with increased maternal complications, newborn health problems and infant death. Post-term births can be prevented through medical interventions, such as inducing labour and delivering via caesarean section. Generally, less than 1% of births have been post-term since the early 2000’s.
The data on this page are from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and represent hospital births only.
Preterm Birth Rate
The preterm birth rate in Simcoe Muskoka has been similar to the Ontario rate between 2006 and 2016. In 2016, the preterm birth rate in Simcoe Muskoka was 8.72 preterm births per 100 live births, and in Ontario the rate was 8.06 preterm births per 100 live births.
Post-term Birth
The Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario post-term birth rates have both decreased significantly in recent decades. In 1986, the post-term birth rates for Ontario and Simcoe Muskoka were 7.0 and 8.9 post-term births per 100 live births respectively. In comparison, the 2016 rates for Ontario and Simcoe Muskoka were 0.25 and 0.48 post-term births per 100 live births respectively.