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Accuracy of assisted reproductive technology information on the Massachusetts birth certificate, 1997-2000
Zi Zhang1, Maurizio Macaluso, Bruce Cohen
1University of Massachusetts Medical School, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 01545, USA. zi.zhang@umassmed.edu
Objective:
To evaluate the accuracy of assisted reproductive technology (ART) reporting on the Massachusetts birth certificate and to explore the individual and hospital-level characteristics associated with ART reporting.
Design:
Validity analysis of population-based data.
Setting:
Live-birth deliveries by Massachusetts-resident mothers during 1997-2000.
Patient(S):
Live births and delivery mothers.
Intervention(S):
The ART data maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were linked with the live birth-infant death records in Massachusetts. Successfully linked records were used as the gold standard for ART-related deliveries in evaluating the validity of the ART information reported on the Massachusetts birth certificate.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Sensitivity and specificity.
Result(S):
The sensitivity of ART reporting on the birth certificate was 27% and the specificity >99%. Sensitivity of ART reporting was higher among women with multiple deliveries (twins: 32%; triplets+: 43%) and preterm deliveries (36%).
Conclusion(S):
During the period evaluated, reporting of ART information on the birth certificate was incomplete, and ART births identified through the birth certificate were a biased sample of the population of ART births. Using delivery hospital data as the sole source of ART information for the standard birth certificate may yield inaccurate information.
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