Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 22, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Data on birth weight in developing countries: can surveys help?

J T Boerma1, K I Weinstein, S O Rutstein

  • 1TANESA Project, Mwanza, United Republic of Tanzania.

Bulletin of the World Health Organization
|January 1, 1996
PubMed

Insights

Demographic and Health Surveys provide valuable data for estimating national low birth weight incidence. However, recalled birth weight data has significant misclassification, limiting its use for individual assessments.

Area of Science:

  • Global Health
  • Demography
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Health facility statistics are the primary source for birth weight data in developing nations, but often lack comprehensive national estimates.
  • Data from health facilities are prone to selection bias, representing only a fraction of the neonate population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the utility of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data for estimating national mean birth weight and low birth weight incidence.
  • To assess the accuracy of recalled birth weight and relative size at birth from DHS for public health assessments.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from 15 national Demographic and Health Surveys conducted since 1990.
  • Examination of recalled birth weight and relative size at birth information collected in these cross-sectional surveys.

Main Results:

  • Cross-sectional surveys, like the DHS, can serve as a valuable resource for national birth weight estimations.
  • The misclassification rate in recalled birth weight data is too high for reliable individual-level assessment of low birth weight.

Conclusions:

  • Demographic and Health Surveys offer a viable method for estimating national birth weight trends and low birth weight prevalence.
  • Relative size at birth data from surveys is not sufficiently accurate for identifying individual cases of low birth weight.

Keywords:
BiologyBirth WeightBody WeightData AnalysisData CollectionData QualityData SourcesDemographic And Health SurveysDemographic FactorsDemographic SurveysDeveloping CountriesLow Birth WeightPhysiologyPopulationPopulation DynamicsResearch MethodologyResearch Report

More Related Videos

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts07:56

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts

Published on: January 29, 2018

Visualizing Field Data Collection Procedures of Exposure and Biomarker Assessments for the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial in India09:33

Visualizing Field Data Collection Procedures of Exposure and Biomarker Assessments for the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network Trial in India

Published on: December 23, 2022

Related Concept Videos

Population Growth00:57

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.However, realistic environmental conditions limit the number of...
Surveys02:16

Surveys

Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally. Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.
Data Collection by Survey01:07

Data Collection by Survey

The systematic method of obtaining and analyzing accurate information of a population is called data collection. A survey is a standard method of data collection that involves collecting information from a target human population about their experience, opinion, or knowledge of a product, service, or process. The responses are recorded and interpreted. The most common survey examples are written questionnaires, face-to-face or telephonic conversations, focus groups, and electronic (e-mail or...
Data Collection by Observations01:08

Data Collection by Observations

Data collection refers to a systematic way of obtaining, observing, measuring, and analyzing accurate information. Observational studies are one of the most widely used methods of data collection. It involves collecting data by observing the behavior and physical characteristics of a sample without making any modifications to the sample.
An astronomer viewing the motion and brightness of stars in the sky and recording the data is an example of observational data collection. A botanist recording...
z Scores and Area Under the Curve01:17

z Scores and Area Under the Curve

z scores are the standardized values obtained after converting a normal distribution into a standard normal distribution. A z score is measured in units of the standard deviation. The z score tells you how many standard deviations the value x is above (to the right of) or below (to the left of) the mean, μ. Values of x that are larger than the mean have positive z scores, and values of x that are smaller than the mean have negative z scores. If x equals the mean, then x has a z score of zero.
What are Estimates?01:06

What are Estimates?

It isn't easy to measure a parameter such as the mean height or the mean weight of a population. So, we draw samples from the population and calculate the mean height or mean weight of the individuals in the sample. This sample data acts as a representative measure of the population parameter. These sample statistics are known as estimates. 
The estimate for the mean of a sample is denoted by ͞x, whereas the mean of the population is designated as μ. Further, parameters such as the mean,...