Islam M Mazharul
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 36, Al Khoud, 123, Sultanate of Oman,
Matern Child Health J. 2014 Aug;18(6):1462-70. doi: 10.1007/s10995-013-1386-7.
To evaluate the utility of maternal recalled birth size (BS) as a proxy measure for actual birth weight (BW) when BW data are missing. Data for the study come from the 2000 National Health Survey of Oman. Frequency distribution, sensitivity and specificity analysis, bivariate, and multivariate statistical techniques were used for data analysis. The BW data exhibited a moderate level of heaping on measurements ending in 0 or 5, suggesting that health personnel often round when recording. About 31% of actual BW data were missing due to non-availability of health cards. Maternal assessment of BS was found to be closely linked to BW on an aggregate level. However, on an individual level, there was misclassification of birth weights across all categories of BS. The overall agreement between recalled BS and recorded BW was moderate (κ = 0.44). Infants with missing BW records were more likely to be low birth weight (LBW). Maternal recalled BS appeared to be a poor proxy for BW. Estimates of LBW based on maternal assessments of BS as small should be considered as an underestimate of its actual prevalence. As infants with missing BW data have different characteristics from those with recorded BW, estimates of LBW depending solely on available BW records will produce a biased prevalence. Health personnel should record actual BW without rounding. They should inform mothers of the birth weight and advise them to retain health cards for future reference.
在出生体重（BW）数据缺失时，评估母亲回忆的出生大小（BS）作为实际出生体重的替代指标的效用。该研究的数据来自2000年阿曼全国健康调查。采用频率分布、敏感性和特异性分析、双变量和多变量统计技术进行数据分析。BW数据在以0或5结尾的测量值上呈现出中等程度的堆积，这表明卫生人员在记录时经常进行四舍五入。由于健康卡不可用，约31%的实际BW数据缺失。在总体水平上，发现母亲对BS的评估与BW密切相关。然而，在个体水平上，所有BS类别中的出生体重都存在错误分类。回忆的BS与记录的BW之间的总体一致性为中等（κ = 0.44）。BW记录缺失的婴儿更有可能是低出生体重（LBW）。母亲回忆的BS似乎是BW的一个较差的替代指标。基于母亲对小BS的评估得出的LBW估计值应被视为对其实际患病率的低估。由于BW数据缺失的婴儿与BW记录完整的婴儿具有不同的特征，仅依赖可用BW记录得出的LBW估计值将产生有偏差的患病率。卫生人员应记录实际BW，不进行四舍五入。他们应告知母亲出生体重，并建议她们保留健康卡以供将来参考。
