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Validity of health plan and birth certificate data for pregnancy research

Susan E Andrade1, Pamela E Scott, Robert L Davis

  • 1Meyers Primary Care Institute and University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA. sandrade@meyersprimary.org

Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
|July 4, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Health plan and birth certificate data accurately identify some pregnancy outcomes and maternal diagnoses. Medical record review is needed for other variables.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Health
  • Health Services Research
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Administrative and claims data are increasingly used in health research.
  • Validating these data sources against medical records is crucial for reliable findings.
  • Pregnancy research often relies on diverse data, necessitating accuracy assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the accuracy of health plan and birth certificate data for identifying infant outcomes and maternal conditions.
  • To determine the validity of these data sources for capturing newborn, maternal, and paternal characteristics.

Main Methods:

  • A retrospective study compared health plan data with birth certificate data for live births (2001-2007).
  • Infant outcomes (e.g., cardiac defects, preterm birth) and maternal diagnoses (asthma, SLE) were identified using codes.
  • Medical charts were abstracted to calculate positive predictive values (PPVs) against a gold standard.

Main Results:

  • High PPVs (≥93%) were found for maternal diagnoses of asthma and SLE.
  • Accurate identification was achieved for preterm birth (87%) and NICU admission (92%).
  • Agreement was considerable (>90%) for birth weight, gestational age, and race/ethnicity between data sources.

Conclusions:

  • Health plan and birth certificate data are valuable for identifying certain infant outcomes and maternal diagnoses.
  • These data sources demonstrate good validity for key newborn, maternal, and paternal characteristics.
  • Medical record review remains essential for validating other outcomes and variables in pregnancy research.
Abstract

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