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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2004.044305v1 95/11/1948    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (7) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lydon-Rochelle, M. T. Articles by Easterling, T. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lydon-Rochelle, M. T. Articles by Easterling, T. R. Related Collections Birth Outcomes Pregnancy Other Maternal and Infant Health Mortality Surveillance Other Statistics/Evaluation/Research

Mona T. Lydon-Rochelle, PhD, CNM, Vicky Cárdenas, PhD, MPH, Jennifer L. Nelson, PhD, Kay M. Tomashek, MD, MPH, Beth A. Mueller, DrPh and Thomas R. Easterling, MD

Mona T. Lydon-Rochelle is with the Department of Family and Child Nursing, School of Nursing, and the Department of Health Services, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle. Jennifer Nelson is with the Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, and the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington. Vicky Cárdenas is with the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington. Kay Tomashek is with the Maternal and Infant Health Branch, Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Beth Mueller is with the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, and the Program in Epidemiology, Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle. Thomas Easterling is with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Washington.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Mona T. Lydon-Rochelle, Mail Stop 357262, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195–7262 (e-mail: minot{at}u.washington.edu).

We sought to estimate the accuracy, relative to maternal medical records, of perinatal risk factors recorded on fetal death certificates. We conducted a validation study of fetal death certificates among women who experienced fetal deaths between 1996 and 2001. The number of previous births, established diabetes, chronic hypertension, maternal fever, performance of autopsy, anencephaly, and Down syndrome had very high accuracy, while placental cord conditions and other chromosomal abnormalities were reported inaccurately. Additional population-based studies are needed to identify strategies to improve fetal death certificate data.

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