Maternal Recall of Birthweight and Gestational Age Accuracy
Author Information
Author(s): Adegboye ARA, Heitmann BL
Primary Institution: University of Southern Denmark
Hypothesis
How accurate is maternal recall of children's birthweight and gestational age compared to official records?
Conclusion
Maternal recall of birthweight and gestational age is sufficiently accurate for clinical and epidemiological use.
Supporting Evidence
- 68% of recalled birthweights were identical to registered weights.
- 92% of birthweights were recalled within 100g of registered weights.
- 94% of gestational ages were recalled within 2 weeks of registered ages.
- Maternal recall was highly reliable across different subgroups.
- Only 1.6% of birthweights were misclassified into different categories.
Takeaway
Moms can usually remember how much their babies weighed and how long they were pregnant, which is important for health studies.
Methodology
The study compared maternal recall data with the Danish Medical Birth Register using statistical methods to assess accuracy.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to differences in recall accuracy based on ethnicity and maternal education.
Limitations
The study may not generalize to populations outside Denmark or to different socio-economic groups.
Participant Demographics
Participants included mothers of school children in Denmark, with variations in ethnicity and education levels.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.048
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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