Article
Errors in registered birth weight and its implications for
mortality statistics
D Anand, P O D Pharoah
Department of Public
Health, Muspratt Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69
3GB, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Anand anand{at}liverpool.ac.uk
Accepted 13 July 2000
BACKGROUND
Birth weight mortality
statistics are important for examining trends and monitoring the
outcomes of neonatal care.
AIMTo determine the effects of
errors in the registered birth weight on birth weight specific mortality.
METHODSAll twins born in England
and Wales during 1993-95 comprise the denominator population. For
those twins that died, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
provided copies of the death certificates. From the information on the
death certificates, the registered birth weight was validated and
amended using predetermined rules. The neonatal, postneonatal, and
infant mortality rates were recalculated.
RESULTSIn 2.5% of cases the
registered birth weight was "not stated" and in others there were
miscoding errors. Important differences between published and amended
birth weight specific mortality rates especially in <500 g and 
3500
g groups were evident.
CONCLUSIONSThe bias arising from
these errors should be taken into account in interpreting mortality
rates and their trends.
Keywords: birth weight; miscoding
© 2000 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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