Is the Accuracy of Prior Preterm Birth History Biased by Delivery Characteristics?

To assess the sensitivity of birth certificates to preterm birth history and determine whether omissions are randomly or systemically biased. Subjects who experienced a preterm birth followed by a subsequent pregnancy were identified in a regional database. The variable “previous preterm birth” was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Maternal and child health journal 2012-08, Vol.16 (6), p.1241-1246
Main Authors: Hackney, David N., Durie, Danielle E., Dozier, Ann M., Suter, Barbara J., Glantz, J. Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Adult
Bias
Birth Certificates
Childrens health
Delivery, Obstetric - statistics & numerical data
Female
Gestational Age
Gynecology
Hospitals
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infants (Premature)
Logistic Models
Male
Maternal and Child Health
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
New York - epidemiology
Pediatrics
Population Economics
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Outcome - epidemiology
Premature birth
Premature Birth - epidemiology
Preventive medicine
Public Health
Recurrence
Registries
Reproducibility of Results
Reproductive History
Socioeconomic Factors
Sociology
Variables
Young Adult
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Summary:To assess the sensitivity of birth certificates to preterm birth history and determine whether omissions are randomly or systemically biased. Subjects who experienced a preterm birth followed by a subsequent pregnancy were identified in a regional database. The variable “previous preterm birth” was abstracted from birth certificates of the subsequent pregnancy. Clinical characteristics were compared between subjects who were correctly versus incorrectly coded. 713 subjects were identified, of whom 65.5% were correctly coded in their subsequent pregnancy. Compared to correctly coded patients, patients who were not correctly identified tended to have late and non-recurrent preterm births or deliveries that were secondary to maternal or fetal indications. A recurrence of preterm birth in the subsequent pregnancy was also associated with correct coding. The overall sensitivity of birth certificates to preterm birth history is suboptimal. Omissions are not random, and are associated with obstetrical characteristics from both the current and prior deliveries. As a consequence, resulting associations may be flawed.
ISSN:1092-7875
1573-6628
DOI:10.1007/s10995-011-0882-x