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Pregnancy care questioning [message #28508]

Mon, 22 January 2024 15:19

emilysolna
Messages: 2
Registered: January 2024

Member

Hello, and apologies if this is not in the right place.

Am I correct in my interpretation for the birth history for a given survey e.g. a 2005 survey, that whilst a woman will be asked about all of her previous pregnancies, that information about birth/antenatal care/postnatal care is only collected for births within the last 5 years?

I am struggling to interpret the large amounts of 'missing data' present in the births recode for variables such as m2a, m2b - and do not want to interpret the survey incorrectly.

Thank you.

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Re: Pregnancy care questioning [message #28530 is a reply to message #28508]

Thu, 25 January 2024 16:23

Janet-DHS
Messages: 938
Registered: April 2022

Senior Member

Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

For any variable, a dot (in Stata) means Not Applicable (NA). The m and hw variables in the BR file refer only to children born in the past 5 years (sometimes a shorter interval is used). The KR file is equivalent to the BR file for the children born in the past 5 years and you could use it instead.

Some variables in the KR file are further limited to the most recent birth, the one with bidx=1. If you see a variable in the KR file with lots of NA cases, you can cross-tabulate it with bidx and you will probably find that the NA cases are for bidx>1. Some variables, such as immunizations, are NA if the child has died.

The questionnaire and the tables in the final report will also help you to determine which births are NA or not NA for specific variables.

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Re: Pregnancy care questioning [message #28579 is a reply to message #28530]

Thu, 01 February 2024 09:48

emilysolna
Messages: 2
Registered: January 2024

Member

Thank you very much! Your help and guidance are very much appreciated :)

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