[How current data can guide mother-infant health planning. An insight into data sources and methodologies].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate how Hospital Discharge Records (SDO) and Certificates of Delivery Care (CEDAP) can be utilized to determine the number of deliveries and births; to calculate indicators for monitoring mother-infant health status, the exposure to risk factors during pregnancy and the health care provided.


METHODS
CEDAP and SDO of all patients admitted to any hospital in the Veneto Region (4.7 million inhabitants, about 44,000 births) during the year 2003 were considered. An area-based study on deliveries and births, a retrospective cohort study on pregnancies, and a prospective cohort study on newborns up to the first year of age were performed to calculate health indicators. These indicators were compared to two official data sources: National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and Italian National Institute of Health (ISS).


METHODS
Descriptive indicators concerning mother-infant health status (conception, pregnancy, delivery, newborns and events during the first year of age).


RESULTS
SDO provide highly accurate data on pregnancies, births and stillborns, which overlap with values reported by ISTAT Combining data from SDO and CEDAP with findings fom the process of tracking mothers and infants'cohorts, allows the calculation of many indicators on conception (n. 9), pregnancy (n. 8), delivery (n. 8), newborn (n. 15), and events during the first year of age (n. 6). In the Veneto Region the general fertility rate is 40.95% per hundred, with a relatively late mean age at delivery (32 years). Pregnant women undergoing prenatal invasive procedures are 23.5% and the caesarean section rate is 29%. Infants born to foreign mothers are 16%, whereas 2.5% are conceived through assisted reproduction techniques, 0.9% are very low birth weight, and 0.3% are extremely low birth weight; neonatal and infant mortality rates are 2.2% per hundred and 2.9% per hundred respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed system is immediately feasible also at a local level, making reliable and informative data available to guide health policies.
Salmaso
Laura
L
Osservatorio della patologia in età pediatrica, Regione Veneto.
Boccuzzo
Giovanna
G
Manea
Silvia
S
Mazzucato
Monica
M
Dalla Pozza
Laura Visonà
LV
Zambon
Francesco
F
Facchin
Paola
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000649:Amniocentesis; D001719:Birth Certificates; D002585:Cesarean Section; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D006285:Health Planning; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007229:Infant Welfare; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D007558:Italy; D008423:Maternal Age; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D012307:Risk Factors