The validity of birth and pregnancy histories in rural Bangladesh

Background: maternity histories provide a means of estimating fertility and mortality from surveys. methods: the present analysis compares two types of maternity histories-birth histories and pregnancy histories-in three respects: (1) completeness of live birth and infant death reporting; (2) accuracy of the time placement of live births and infant deaths; and (3) the degree to which reported versus actual total fertility measures differ. the analysis covers a 15-year time span and is based on two data sources from matlab,bangladesh: the 1994 matlab demographic and health survey and,as gold standard,the vital events data from matlab's demographic surveillance system. results: both histories are near perfect in live-birth completeness; however,pregnancy histories do better in the completeness and time accuracy of deaths during the first year of life. conclusions: birth or pregnancy histories can be used for fertility estimation,but pregnancy histories are advised for estimating infant mortality. © 2015 espeut and becker.