Community based estimation of perinatal mortality through record linkage.

OBJECTIVE To estimate perinatal mortality through record linkage of Health Workers (HW) and Anganwadi Workers (AWW) in rural Haryana. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of records (1991-92) of HW and AWW. Enquiry and home visits were made for tracing the fate of pregnancy in cases with incomplete records. SETTING In 1993-95 in 45 villages selected purposively in Raipur Rani block, Ambala. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Enlisting of perinatal deaths as the main outcome measure through scrutiny of records of HW and AWW. RESULTS Perinatal mortality rate (PMR) was 42.25 and 45.78 per thousand births as per the record of HW and AWW, respectively for the 23 villages for whom records of both were available. Support by enquiry or home visit yielded a PMR of 59.42 for combined HW and AWW sources and 51.66 per 1000 births for AWW source alone. Concordance between AWW and HW records for fate of pregnancy was moderate (K = 0.46; 95% CI 0.35-0.57). CONCLUSIONS There is a lack of a system of record linkage between and within the records of HW and AWW at primary health care level. AWW data was more accurate and up-to-date as compared to HW. Reasonably accurate estimates of perinatal mortality rate can be made through record linkage.