%0 Journal Article
%T Improvement of maternal Aboriginality in NSW birth data
%A Fenglian Xu
%A Elizabeth A Sullivan
%A Richard C Madden
%A Deborah Black
%A Lisa R Jackson Pulver
%J BMC Medical Research Methodology
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2288-12-8
%X This study was based on linked birth data from the Midwives Data Collection (MDC) and the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) of New South Wales (NSW). Data linkage was performed by the Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) for births in NSW for the period January 2001 to December 2005. The accuracy of maternal Aboriginal status in the MDC and RBDM was assessed by consistency, sensitivity and specificity. A new statistical variable, ASV, or Aboriginal Statistical Variable, was constructed based on Indigenous identification in both datasets. The ASV was assessed by comparing numbers and percentages of births to Aboriginal mothers with the estimates by capture-recapture analysis.Maternal Aboriginal status was under-ascertained in both the MDC and RBDM. The ASV significantly increased ascertainment of Aboriginal women giving birth and decreased the number of missing cases. The proportion of births to Aboriginal mothers in the non-registered birth group was significantly higher than in the registered group.Linking birth data collections is a feasible method to improve the statistical ascertainment of Aboriginal women giving birth in NSW. This has ramifications for the ascertainment of babies of Aboriginal mothers and the targeting of appropriate services in pregnancy and early childhood.The Indigenous population of Australia was estimated as 2.5% (517,200) of the Australian population as of 30 June 2006 [1,2]. New South Wales (NSW) had the largest proportion of the Indigenous estimated resident population (29-30%) in Australia [1-3]. An estimated 95% of the NSW Indigenous population were of Aboriginal origin, 3% were of Torres Strait Islander origin and the remaining 2% were of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin [1].In a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 35,264 women who identified as being of Indigenous origin gave birth to 35,682 babies (3.6% of all babies) between 2001 and 2004 [4]. The report is based on d
%K Birth
%K Aboriginality
%K data
%K Australia
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/12/8