title: Estimation of live birth underreporting with a capture-recapture method, Sergipe, Northeastern Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Estimate the number of live births and, therefore, underreporting of live births.
  
  
  METHODS
  The databases of the Live Birth Information System and the Civil Registry of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, from the second and third trimesters of 2006 in Sergipe state (Northeastern Brazil) were paired by deterministic linkage based on the number of the Live Birth Declaration. The geographic disaggregation utilized was mother's microregion of residence. Huggins closed population models were used to estimate the capture probabilities for each database and the total live births during the period, within each geographic subdivision. MARK® software was used for the estimates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Underregistration during the period studied was 19.3%. Application of the capture-recapture method to estimate underregistration of live births is possible, including for geographic disaggregations smaller than a state. The deterministic linkage was impaired in four microregions, due to non-inclusion of the Live Birth Declaration number in the database of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Maternal age, a heterogeneity characteristic in the population of live births, affected the probability of capture by the civil registry.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Capture-recapture was a viable method to estimate the underregistration of live births.
authors: Unidade Estadual São Paulo, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. bika.schmid@gmail.com
authors: Bianca
authors: B
authors: Schmid
authors: Nilza Nunes da
authors: NN
authors: Silva
mesh_terms: D001719:Birth Certificates; D001723:Birth Rate; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D050498:Live Birth / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008423:Maternal Age; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011336:Probability; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*