Quality of Maternal Height and Weight Data from the Revised Birth Certificate and Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

Background: The 2003 revision of the US Standard Certificate of Live Birth (birth certificate) and Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) are important for maternal weight research and surveillance. We examined quality of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain, and component variables from these sources.

Methods: Data are from a PRAMS data quality improvement study among a subset of New York City and Vermont respondents in 2009.

Reliability of Reported Maternal Smoking: Comparing the Birth Certificate to Maternal Worksheets and Prenatal and Hospital Medical Records, New York City and Vermont, 2009.

Maternal smoking is captured on the 2003 US Standard Birth Certificate based on self-reported tobacco use before and during pregnancy collected on post-delivery maternal worksheets. Study objectives were to compare smoking reported on the birth certificate to maternal worksheets and prenatal and hospital medical records. The authors analyzed a sample of New York City (NYC) and Vermont women (n = 1,037) with a live birth from January to August 2009 whose responses to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey were linked with birth certificates and abstracted medical records and maternal worksheets.

Validation of selected items on the 2003 U.S. standard certificate of live birth: New York City and Vermont.

Objective: We assessed the validity of selected items on the 2003 revised U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth to understand the accuracy of new and existing items.

Validation of self-reported maternal and infant health indicators in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

To assess the validity of self-reported maternal and infant health indicators reported by mothers an average of 4 months after delivery. Three validity measures-sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV)-were calculated for pregnancy history, pregnancy complications, health care utilization, and infant health indicators self-reported on the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) questionnaire by a representative sample of mothers delivering live births in New York City (NYC) (n = 603) and Vermont (n = 664) in 2009. Data abstracted from hospital records served as gold standards.