ArticlePublic health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)
Sensitivity of birth certificate reports of birth defects in Atlanta, 1995-2005: effects of maternal, infant, and hospital characteristics.
Article in Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global prevalence of congenital anencephaly: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.Reproductive health · 2022Pooled it
- Risks of Birth Defects Following In Utero Exposures to Unregulated Brominated Haloacetic Acids.Birth defects research · 2025Article
- Linked birth cohort files for perinatal health research: California as a model for methodology and implementation.Annals of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Association Between Rates of Down Syndrome Diagnosis in States With vs Without 20-Week Abortion Bans From 2011 to 2018.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Concordance of neonatal critical condition data between secondary databases: Florida and Texas birth certificate Linkage with medicaid analytic extract.BMC medical research methodology · 2023Article
- Congenital anomalies associated with oil and gas development and resource extraction: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Texas.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- Association of Gestational Weight Gain With Infant Morbidity and Mortality in the United States.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- Risk of non-syndromic orofacial clefts by maternal rural-urban residence and race/ethnicity: A population-based case-control study in Washington State 1989-2014.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2021Article
- The risk of birth defects with conception by ART.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Prenatal exposure to nitrate in drinking water and the risk of congenital anomalies.Environmental research · 2019Article
- The association between natural gas well activity and specific congenital anomalies in Oklahoma, 1997-2009.Environment international · 2019Article
- Zika virus infection estimates, Mexico.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2018Article
- Parental Age and Risk of Infant Leukaemia: A Pooled Analysis.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2017Article
- The role of maternal age in twin pregnancy outcomes.American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2017Article
- Identifying birth defects in automated data sources in the Vaccine Safety Datalink.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2017Observational
- A quality assessment of reporting sources for microcephaly in Utah, 2003 to 2013.Birth defects research. Part A, Clinical and molecular teratology · 2016Article
- Databases for Congenital Heart Defect Public Health Studies Across the Lifespan.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2016Review
- Gastroschisis: epidemiology and mode of delivery, 2005-2013.American journal of obstetrics and gynecology · 2016Article
- Validation of birth outcomes from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System (SART CORS): population-based analysis from the Massachusetts Outcome Study of Assisted Reproductive Technology (MOSART).Fertility and sterility · 2016Article
- Comparison of birth certificates and hospital-based birth data on pregnancy complications in Los Angeles and Orange County, California.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe assessed variations in the sensitivity of birth defect diagnoses derived from birth certificate data by maternal, infant, and hospital characteristics.
methodsWe compared birth certificate data for 1995-2005 births in Atlanta with data from the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program (MACDP). We calculated the sensitivity of birth certificates for reporting defects often discernable at birth (e.g., anencephaly, spina bifida, cleft lip, clubfoot, Down syndrome, and rectal atresia or stenosis). We used multivariable logistic regression models to examine associations with sociodemographic and hospital factors.
resultsThe overall sensitivity of birth certificates was 23% and ranged from 7% for rectal atresia/stenosis to 69% for anencephaly. Non-Hispanic black maternal race/ethnicity, less than a high school education, and preterm birth were independently associated with a lower probability of a birth defect diagnosis being reported on a birth certificate. Sensitivity also was lower for hospitals with > 1,000 births per year.
conclusionsThe underreporting of birth defects on birth certificates is influenced by sociodemographic and hospital characteristics. Interpretation of birth defects prevalence estimates derived from birth certificate reports should take these issues into account.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.