Selecting an indicator set for monitoring and evaluating perinatal health in Europe: criteria, methods and results from the PERISTAT project.
The PERISTAT project was charged with developing an indicator set for monitoring and describing perinatal health in Europe as part of the European Commission's Health Monitoring Programme, run by the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG-SANCO), which is working towards the establishment of a comprehensive health monitoring system at the community level. To develop its recommendations, the PERISTAT project carried out an extensive review of existing perinatal health indicators and then implemented a DELPHI consensus process with its scientific advisory committee, a panel composed of clinicians, epidemiologists and statisticians, as well as with a panel of midwives. Consensus was achieved on 10 core and 23 recommended indicators using methods that drew on and consolidated previous work in this field. Twelve of these indicators were targeted for further development and the other 21 for immediate implementation. A feasibility study, reported in the rest of this issue, was put into place to assess these recommendations.
Zeitlin
Jennifer
J
Epidemiological Research Unit on Perinatal and Women's Health, U149 INSERM, 123 boulevard Port-Royal, 75014 Paris, France. zeitlin@cochin.inserm.fr
Wildman
Katherine
K
Bréart
Gérard
G
Alexander
Sophie
S
Barros
Henrique
H
Blondel
Béatrice
B
Buitendijk
Simone
S
Gissler
Mika
M
Macfarlane
Alison
A
D032921:Consensus; D004813:Epidemiology; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008880:Midwifery; D018743:Perinatal Care; D011247:Pregnancy