TY - JOUR
T1 - Validity of Birth Certificate Data Compared With Hospital Discharge Data in Reporting Maternal Morbidity and Disparities
AU - Gemmill, Alison
AU - Passarella, Molly
AU - Phibbs, Ciaran S.
AU - Main, Elliott K.
AU - Lorch, Scott A.
AU - Kozhimannil, Katy B.
AU - Carmichael, Suzan L.
AU - Leonard, Stephanie A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/3/1
Y1 - 2024/3/1
N2 - A growing number of studies are using birth certificate data, despite data-quality concerns, to study maternal morbidity and associated disparities. We examined whether conclusions about the incidence of maternal morbidity, including Black-White disparities, differ between birth certificate data and hospitalization data. Using linked birth certificate and hospitalization data from California and Michigan for 2018 (N=543,469), we found that maternal morbidity measures using birth certificate data alone are substantially underreported and have poor validity. Furthermore, the degree of underreporting in birth certificate data differs between Black and White individuals and results in erroneous inferences about disparities. Overall, Black-White disparities were more modest in the birth certificate data compared with the hospitalization data. Birth certificate data alone are inadequate for studies of maternal morbidity and associated racial disparities.
AB - A growing number of studies are using birth certificate data, despite data-quality concerns, to study maternal morbidity and associated disparities. We examined whether conclusions about the incidence of maternal morbidity, including Black-White disparities, differ between birth certificate data and hospitalization data. Using linked birth certificate and hospitalization data from California and Michigan for 2018 (N=543,469), we found that maternal morbidity measures using birth certificate data alone are substantially underreported and have poor validity. Furthermore, the degree of underreporting in birth certificate data differs between Black and White individuals and results in erroneous inferences about disparities. Overall, Black-White disparities were more modest in the birth certificate data compared with the hospitalization data. Birth certificate data alone are inadequate for studies of maternal morbidity and associated racial disparities.
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U2 - 10.1097/aog.0000000000005497
DO - 10.1097/aog.0000000000005497
M3 - Article
C2 - 38176017
AN - SCOPUS:85185220785
SN - 0029-7844
VL - 143
SP - 459
EP - 462
JO - Obstetrics and gynecology
JF - Obstetrics and gynecology
IS - 3
ER -