Improvement of maternal Aboriginality in NSW birth data

Fenglian Xu,Richard C Madden,Elizabeth A Sullivan,Deborah Black,Lisa R Jackson Pulver

doi:10.1186/1471-2288-12-8

Fenglian Xu, Richard C Madden + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-12-8

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Abstract

BackgroundThe Indigenous population of Australia was estimated as 2.5% and under-reported. The aim of this study is to improve statistical ascertainment of Aboriginal women giving birth in New South Wales.MethodsThis 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.ResultsMaternal 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.ConclusionsLinking 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.

Highlights

The Indigenous population of Australia was estimated as 2.5% and under-reported
There were a total of 440,994 birth records from the Midwives Data Collection (MDC) and Registry of Birth Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) between January 2001 and December 2005 in New South Wales (NSW)
There were 398,207 records which could be linked between the MDC and RBDM births with a linkage rate of 91.65% in the MDC and 98.39% in the RBDM birth

Summary

Introduction

The Indigenous population of Australia was estimated as 2.5% and under-reported. New South Wales (NSW) had the largest proportion of the Indigenous estimated resident population (29-30%) in Australia [1,2,3]. 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 it was found that maternal Indigenous status was under-reported in the New South Wales (NSW) MDC and the Registry of Birth Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) birth [5,6,7,8,9]. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimated that only 89.3% of Indigenous mothers were identified as Indigenous in the NSW RBDM from 2002 to 2006 [8]

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