title: Linking environmental hazards and birth defects data.
abstract: The authors describe methods for linking birth certificate and birth defect registry data to potential environmental hazards and assess potential confounding factors. Cases of selected birth defects from the Texas Birth Defects Registry were linked to their respective birth/ fetal death records. Comparison births were randomly selected from the 1996-2000 Texas birth records. Maternal addresses were related through a geographic information system to boundaries of hazardous waste sites and point locations of industries. Approximately 89% of maternal addresses of case births and 88% of comparison births were successfully related in distance to these sites and industries. Maternal characteristics associated with living within one mile of these sites included belonging to any group besides non-Hispanic white and having lower education attainment (< 16 years) or a residence within the city limits. In linking environmental and health outcome databases, researchers should be aware of factors that may confound associations between exposure and outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, College Station, Texas 77843-1266, USA. jdbrender@srph.tamhsc.edu
authors.forename: Jean D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Brender
authors.forename: F Benjamin
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Lucina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Langlois
authors.forename: Zunera
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gilani
authors.forename: Ionara
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Delima
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moody
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001719:Birth Certificates; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000633:toxicity*; D006256:Hazardous Waste / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006256:Hazardous Waste