Agreement between maternal recall of distant first birth events with hospital birth records: A cohort study
Abstract BACKGROUND Inter and intra-generational birth cohorts could be particularly useful for predicting the likelihood of labour and birth events for nulliparous women. However, maternal recall of their first childbirth may be imprecise, and hospital records can be inaccurate. Establishing the extent of agreement between mothers’ recall and hospital reports of historical first birth events could be the basis of a prediction tool that could contribute to better health care practices during daughter’s perinatal period. METHODS In 2015, women who had their first baby between 1967 and 1997 were asked to recall gravidity, method of labour onset, type of pain relief, length of labour, birth outcome, and infant’s gender, birthweight and gestational age ≥17 years postpartum. Responses were compared to hospital birth records. Agreement was evaluated using Bland-Altman’s plots and Kappa statistics (k). Logistic regression modeling was used to determine factors influencing discrepant recall. RESULTS Of 150 questionnaires distributed, 101 records were complete. Up to 49 years after birth there was strong agreement for birthweight measured at interval (mean discrepancy -28.69g, SD =170.91g, Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement (-363.66g, 306.28g)) and category level birthweight k=0.83, good agreement for gestational age (GA) in weeks, at interval level (mean difference=0, SD =0.90, Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement (-1.766, 1.766)) and at category level GA k=0.56. There was moderate agreement for labour length (≤10hrs/>10hrs) k=0.54; 43% of records did not record this information. For gravidity k=0.43, labour onset k=0.79; any pain relief k=0.61; and birth outcome k=0.91. Univariate logistic regression showed better agreement on infant birthweight in women with higher levels of education, lower agreement for onset of labour method with increasing maternal age at birth, and higher agreement for use of pethidine, but lower agreement for use of epidural in women who had their first babies more recently. CONCLUSIONS Mothers accounts of first birth events generally agree with hospital records. Familial birth data may contribute to more individualised care for nulliparous women, and may limit rising interventions based on population level guidelines. Future research in other settings is warranted before diagnostic criteria may be used in clinical settings.
