ArticleJournal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association2026
Birth certificate data substantially misrepresent actual NICU admissions, including among most vulnerable.
Article in Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Overlap of Maternal and Neonatal Critical Care Admission in the United States: Trends and Risk Factors in 2016-2024.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Inequitable access to risk-appropriate neonatal care: evidence from a regionalized perinatal system in Arkansas.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Article
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.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the validity of NICU admission reporting on birth certificates in a large dataset. STUDY
designWe compared NICU admissions on birth certificates to actual NICU admissions for all potentially viable in-hospital deliveries in Pennsylvania and South Carolina from 2006 to 2018 (n = 2,470,917). We used data from linked birth certificate and hospital discharge records to identify actual NICU admissions and evaluated missed NICU admissions by gestational age, mother's race and ethnicity, and other factors.
results38% of infants who were truly admitted to a NICU did not have a NICU admission on their birth certificates. Missed NICU admission occurred across all gestational ages. Birth certificates missed more than half of NICU admissions among term infants (37+ weeks), including among those with conditions considered to be severe.
conclusionsNICU admission reporting on birth certificates grossly underestimates utilization of NICU care and can have serious implications for research, resource allocation, and policy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42204354What 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.