Quality of perinatal death registration. A study in Hainaut, Belgium.
The quality of national perinatal mortality statistics was evaluated from a survey in nine maternity hospitals in Hainaut, Belgium (total births: 7862). The overall completeness of perinatal death registration was 86%. Under-registration was especially frequent in low birth weight babies. In 69% of cases, the birth weight value reported on death certificates was in exact agreement with the value in hospital records. Using detailed categories of causes, there was, in 37% of cases, agreement between the underlying cause on death certificates and the main cause identified in hospital records. Using gross categories of causes, the level of agreement was 56%. Disagreement was mostly due to the lack of specificity of the underlying cause on death certificates. The authors suggest ways to improve the quality of registration.
Hertoghe
L
L
Department of Epidemiology, University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
De Wals
P
P
Piron
M
M
Bertrand
F
F
Lechat
M F
MF
D001530:Belgium; D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards*