The Use of Vital Records for Blindness Research

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Two retrospective record-linked studies now under way on the etiology of blindness and survivorship among the blind illustrate advantages and disadvantages in the use of vital records for public health research. Prenatal and delivery information obtained from the confidential medical supplement of the birth certificate is used to determine whether mothers of blind children had excess of selected disorders of pregnancy, labor, and delivery, compared with mothers of a sample of all live births in New York State from 1948 through 1960. The birth certificate is limited principally in the nature and accuracy of the information appearing in the medical supplement. However, the availability of birth certificates and ease of obtaining necessary data from them made them the most feasible source of information on blind children and controls. Another study compares the pattern of survivorship and causes of death among blind persons with those of the general population in Massachusetts from 1940 through 1959. The death certificate is essential to the study in order to certify as to death, obtain accurate date of death and obtain the cause of death. The major limitation of the death certificate is the question of accuracy and comparability of the causes of death as recorded over the entire study period.