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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 28 2015 |
Keywords
- Bangladesh
- Birth histories
- Displacement
- Fertility estimation
- Maternity history
- Mortality estimation
- Omission
- Pregnancy histories
- Validation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Food Science
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis