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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
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Validity of birth certificate-derived maternal weight data.

Lisa M Bodnar1, Barbara Abrams, Marnie Bertolet

  • 1Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; Magee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA.

Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology
|March 29, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Maternal weight data on birth certificates, including prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG), are often inaccurate, especially at the extremes. Validation studies are crucial for addressing these reporting errors in research.

Keywords:
birth certificatevalidityweight

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Area of Science:

  • Maternal Health
  • Public Health Surveillance
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Vital records are increasingly used for maternal weight data.
  • The accuracy of this data, however, remains uncertain.
  • This study addresses the validity of birth certificate weight information.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the accuracy of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) reported on birth certificates.
  • To compare vital records data with medical record data for a representative sample of births.
  • To identify factors influencing misclassification of maternal weight data.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized medical records from 1204 births (2003-2010) at a Pennsylvania teaching hospital.
  • Stratified analyses by prepregnancy BMI, GWG, race/ethnicity, and gestational age.
  • Compared birth certificate data with detailed medical record data.

Main Results:

  • Agreement between birth certificate and medical record BMI was highest for normal/overweight and obese class 2/3 categories.
  • Gestational weight gain (GWG) agreement ranged from 41-83%, with poorest accuracy at extreme GWG values.
  • Misclassification of GWG was primarily due to inaccurate prepregnancy weight reporting.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal weight data on birth certificates, particularly extreme values, are poorly reported.
  • Researchers should conduct validation studies to adjust for measurement errors.
  • Bias analysis using validation data is recommended for accurate research findings.