Experiences with linked birth and infant death certificates from the NIMS project
Strauss, L.T.; Freedman, M.A.; Gunter, N.; Powell-Griner, E.; Smith, J.C.
Public Health Reports 102(2): 204-210
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0033-3549 PMID: 3104978 DOI: 10.2307/4628098Document Number: 346967
The authors analyze the quality of data in the files of linked birth and death certificates from the U.S. National Infant Mortality Surveillance (NIMS) project. The project compared individual states' total infant mortality experiences for the 1980 cohort. Uniformity among the separate data sets is considered essential. Variations in definitions, variations in states' linking procedures, variations in the recording of some pregnancy outcomes, ambiguous treatment of unknowns or zero values, and unexpected data problems are discussed