The quality of the new birth certificate data: a validation study in North Carolina.

Abstract

Surveys of Food Intakes by Individualswere not specifically designed to study perinatal outcomes, we cannot evaluate the potentally negative impact of low energy intake on maternalweight gain, birthweight, and lactation performance. It is likely that, as has been noted for selfreported diets, our participants were underreporting their intakes of energy.9-10 It is also possible that their energy requirements were lower than the Recommended Dietary Allowance as a result of lower than average energy expenditure. The postpartum intakes of many nonlactating mothers did not return to prepregnancy levels, which may be a risk factor for retention of pregnancy weight gain.These findings are provocative and indicate a need for additional study of nationally representative samples to determine whether the maternal energy intakes observed here are associated with adverse effects on pregnancy outcome, lactational performance, and maintenance of desirable body weight. O

The effect of expanding Medicaid prenatal services on birth outcomes.

“…Washington's baseline study period was January 1 through July 31, 1989; the postintervention study period was January 1 through July 31, 1992. Owing to database availability, June 1 through December 31,1989, served as Colorado's baseline study period and June 1 through December 31, 1992, as the postintervention study period. Women who received care from health maintenance organizations, who delivered in military hospitals, or who were identified as undocumented aliens were excluded.…”

Validation of Selected Items on the 2003 U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth: New York City and Vermont

“…Previous validation studies of the 1989 version of the U.S. birth certificate documented high specificity for most items and high sensitivity or agreement for a limited number of items, including maternal demographics, delivery method, and infant birthweight, and low-to-moderate sensitivity or agreement for obstetric and medical risk factors. [1][2][3][4][5] The sensitivity of some items varied by maternal characteristics; indicators from birth certificates of infants born to Hispanic mothers and those not proficient in English had some of the lowest sensitivity estimates. 4 In 2003, a new revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth was released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) with some items from the 1989 revision and new items added.…”

The mixed effects of migration: Community-level migration and birthweight in Mexico

“…Recorded close to the time of birth with the participation of parents and/or birth attendants, birthweight recorded on birth certificates is considered highly reliable (e.g. Buescher et al, 1993). The birth certificates also included information about basic socio-demographic characteristics, health care, and geographic identifiers for mother's municipality of residence.…”