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. 2015 Aug 28:33:17.
doi: 10.1186/s41043-015-0027-8.

The validity of birth and pregnancy histories in rural Bangladesh

Donna Espeut  1 , Stan Becker  2
Affiliations

The validity of birth and pregnancy histories in rural Bangladesh

Donna Espeut et al. J Health Popul Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Maternity histories provide a means of estimating fertility and mortality from surveys.

Methods: The present analysis compares two types of maternity histories-birth histories and pregnancy histories-in three respects: (1) completeness of live birth and infant death reporting; (2) accuracy of the time placement of live births and infant deaths; and (3) the degree to which reported versus actual total fertility measures differ. The analysis covers a 15-year time span and is based on two data sources from Matlab, Bangladesh: the 1994 Matlab Demographic and Health Survey and, as gold standard, the vital events data from Matlab's Demographic Surveillance System.

Results: Both histories are near perfect in live-birth completeness; however, pregnancy histories do better in the completeness and time accuracy of deaths during the first year of life.

Conclusions: Birth or pregnancy histories can be used for fertility estimation, but pregnancy histories are advised for estimating infant mortality.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of 1994 MDHS respondents and sub-groups of respondents identified as eligible for the present validation analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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