Discrepancies in birth weights between hospital records and Health Department data for low birth weight infants in New York City

The study is one of the first to compare corresponding birth weights documented on New York City Health Department Vital Statistics (HDVS) birth tapes and the neonatal medical records of the hospital of birth. Only those infants with birth weights of 2,500 grams (g) or less were studies. Analyses were made of the scope, magnitude of error, and direction of the discrepancies observed. Concordance was considered present if the discrepancy in birth weight was 30 g or less. HDVS birth tapes and the hospital charts of 3,864 neonates were reviewed. The study population came from 48 of 53 hospitals in the metropolitan area. Hospitals were divided into three categories by the level of care offered. Each level of care was subdivided into groups by type of hospital ownership, that is, proprietary, voluntary, and municipal. Concordance was 87 percent overall and ranged from 67 to 96 percent among the study hospitals. More discrepancies were found for levels II and III hospitals than in level I hospitals, those with less sophisticated resources. Municipal hospitals had more discrepancies in birth weights than voluntary hospitals. Infants who had been transported from the birth facility to another facility had significantly higher concordance rates than the nontransported infants, after adjusting for levels of care, type of ownership of the hospital, and birth weight categories. Increased concordance rates were shown to be associated with increased birth weight.