Grace K R, Waters G, Huether C A, Edmonds L D, McClain P
University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Genet Epidemiol. 1995;12(4):361-9. doi: 10.1002/gepi.1370120404.
Linking material and newborn medical records is a valuable tool for assessing the relationship between maternal variables and fetal outcome. This study evaluated the Center for Disease Control's newly developed maternal and newborn medical record linkage system, a computer program that uses weighted variables to determine the most likely maternal and newborn pairs. Any newborn record not achieving a set minimum score with a maternal record remains nonmatched. The objectives of the study were to estimate the program's matching accuracy, determine causes of incorrect matches and nonmatches, develop suggestions for program revisions, and evaluate the effects of the revisions. The study sample included 521 matched and 247 nonmatched maternal and newborn medical records from seven Ohio hospitals. Of all available newborn records (10,068), 574 (5.7%) did not match with maternal records; for those in which a match occurred, the authors ascertained a 98% matching accuracy and determined explanations for nonmatched and incorrectly matched records. The authors noted a greater prevalence of birth defects and prematurity among newborns with nonmatched records than among those with matched records. Program revisions, therefore, focused on reducing the prevalence of nonmatched records. The revised program reduced the prevalence of nonmatched records from 5.7% to 3% but reduced matching accuracy.
将产妇病历与新生儿病历相链接是评估产妇变量与胎儿结局之间关系的一项重要工具。本研究评估了疾病控制中心新开发的产妇与新生儿病历链接系统，这是一个利用加权变量来确定最有可能的产妇与新生儿配对的计算机程序。任何与产妇病历未达到设定最低分数的新生儿病历仍视为未匹配。本研究的目的是估计该程序的匹配准确性，确定错误匹配和未匹配的原因，提出程序修订建议，并评估修订的效果。研究样本包括来自俄亥俄州七家医院的521对匹配的以及247对未匹配的产妇与新生儿病历。在所有可用的新生儿病历（10068份）中，574份（5.7%）与产妇病历不匹配；对于那些发生匹配的病历，作者确定匹配准确率为98%，并确定了未匹配和错误匹配病历的原因。作者指出，未匹配病历的新生儿中出生缺陷和早产的发生率高于匹配病历的新生儿。因此，程序修订重点在于降低未匹配病历的发生率。修订后的程序将未匹配病历的发生率从5.7%降至3%，但降低了匹配准确率。
