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number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1524] Fri, 07 March 2014 09:33 Go to next message
pkram is currently offline  pkram
Messages: 3
Registered: March 2014
Location: United States
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Hello,

I am looking to calculate the number of pregnancies to enrolled women in the 5 years preceding survey in the 2008 Kenya DHS. Please advise on where I can find the calendar information, and any tips to generate the number of pregnancies of 7+ months duration shown in Table 8.4 (Perinatal Mortality). I need the total number of pregnancies, not just the number of live births because I am working on an analysis involving stillbirths.


Thanks very much,
Pavani
Re: number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1526 is a reply to message #1524] Fri, 07 March 2014 11:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Liz-DHS
Messages: 1516
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member
Dear User,
The recode calendar variables are in Rec82 and are called VCOL and VCAL. If you downloaded the data, you should have a map and a dictionary indicating the location of REC 82. This is part of the woman's data and is what you should be using. If you are using CSPro to do your analysis, the name of the dataset containing the woman's data is called KEIR52.zip. You can refer to The Standard Recode Guide http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/DHSG4/Recode6_DHS_22March2013 _DHSG4.pdf for additional information regarding the calendar variables and how they are used. The publication is bookmarked and under the bookmark called "Section and Variable Description - Individual" there is a bookmark called "Section W82 (REC82)- Calendar". The Guide to DHS Statistics also has a section on PERINATAL MORTALITY RATE, P96. This section has the Definition and the Calculation including the handling of missing values. In addition our website has a section on Data Variables and Definitons http://dhsprogram.com/data/Data-Variables-and-Definitions.cf m. You may also want to refer to Further Analysys #59 Contraceptive Use Dynamics http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FA59/FA59.pdf This is an older publication but the analysis was done using calendar data.
We also have a very useful section on our website on Using Datasets for Analysis http://dhsprogram.com/data/Using-DataSets-for-Analysis.cfm. Finally, also on our website there is a section on the various types of datafiles and the naming convention. http://dhsprogram.com/data/File-Types-and-Names.cfm This will provide a clear example of the various datasets. Please feel free to post again if this does not answer your question.

Re: number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1529 is a reply to message #1526] Mon, 10 March 2014 10:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
pkram is currently offline  pkram
Messages: 3
Registered: March 2014
Location: United States
Member
Dear Liz,

Many thanks for putting all this useful information into one reply. I had found several of these resources previously. I understand how I can determine the number of live births, and whether or not a woman has experienced a pregnancy termination (yes/no) but I'm not entirely clear on how I can determine the total number of pregnancies. That is, how do I determine the total number of pregnancies that she has experienced during the preceding 5 years, and the total number of stillbirths during that time period? Thanks very much for easing my transition into the use of DHS data.

Best wishes,
Pavani
Re: number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1530 is a reply to message #1529] Mon, 10 March 2014 10:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Liz-DHS
Messages: 1516
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member
Dear Pavani,
I will pass on your query to one of our experts and will get back to you once I have a response.
Thank you!
Re: number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1533 is a reply to message #1529] Mon, 10 March 2014 15:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Liz-DHS
Messages: 1516
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member
Dear Pavani,
Here is a response from one of our experts, Dr. Shea Rutstein:
"The reproductive calendar is given as a string of positions, each representing a month. The first calendar string indicates, births (B), non-live birth terminations (T), each month of pregnancy (P), and numbers and letters that represent a month of use of contraception of various methods. See the data dictionary for the codes used. The position of the month of interview in the calendar is given by V018, the date of the start of the calendar by v017, and the length of the calendar string is given by V019. To use the calendar data, string functions are required that can be repeated for each position.

"Non-live births in column 1 of the reproductive calendar are given by "T"s. Live births are given by "B"s. Count the number of "T"s and "B"s in the 60 positions prior to the position of the survey date to get the number of pregnancies in the five years preceding the survey. For still births, only count the number of "T"s that are preceded by 6 to 8 "P"s (a month where the woman was pregnant) since we count as still births all those non-live birth terminations with pregnancy durations of 7 to 9 months (the T is the last month of the pregnancy). Note that for pregnancies that began prior to the calendar, the duration of pregnancy will not be given by the number of Ps.

Re: number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1534 is a reply to message #1533] Mon, 10 March 2014 15:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
user-rhs is currently offline  user-rhs
Messages: 132
Registered: December 2013
Senior Member
Pavani,
From the recode manual for DHS5 (which is what was used for the 08/09 Kenya DHS):

Column 1 description (VCAL_1):
Records each of the births and pregnancies during the calendar period, as well as each
episode of contraceptive use and non-use. The following codes are used in column 1:

0 Non-use of contraception
1 Pill
2 IUD
3 Injections
4 Diaphragm
5 Condom
6 Female sterilization
7 Male sterilization
8 Periodic abstinence/rhythm
9 Withdrawal


L Lactational amenorrhea
C Female condom
F Foam and Jelly
α Country-specific method 1
ß Country-specific method 2
τ Country-specific method 3
? Unknown method/missing data
P Pregnancy
T Terminated pregnancy/non-live birth
B Birth
W Other traditional methods
N Norplant
A Abstinence



So I think what you are interested in would be counting the number of "P"s within the string (divide by 9 months or how long pregnancies last), or rather, the first instance of "P" after a series of non-"P" characters. Unfortunately, there is no differentiation between abortion or stillbirth, but I suppose you can always go back to the data and see whether the woman ever had any stillbirths, and match the terminations with stillbirths in order to separate abortions from stillbirths.


Link: https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/DHSG4/Recode5DHS_23Augus t2012.pdf, VCAL coding is on page 72 of document (p. 76 of PDF file)

HTH,
RHS

[Updated on: Mon, 10 March 2014 15:30]

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Re: number of pregnancies - Kenya DHS 2008 [message #1536 is a reply to message #1534] Mon, 10 March 2014 15:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
user-rhs is currently offline  user-rhs
Messages: 132
Registered: December 2013
Senior Member
See my earlier post that has some Stata code on separating the VCAL_1 string into separate columns that are 1 character wide each in case you find it easier to scan across multiple variables (vs. scanning within a variable): http://userforum.dhsprogram.com/index.php?t=rview&th=569 &goto=1390#msg_1390. Even if you're not working in Stata, you can tailor the Excel file posted to match whatever software you're using.

[Updated on: Mon, 10 March 2014 15:59]

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Re: Alignment of vcal_1 and vcal_2 codes in the data [message #8337 is a reply to message #1534] Mon, 12 October 2015 04:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kisaakye
Messages: 15
Registered: August 2015
Member
Hello DHS experts,

On reading the calendar data, i understand the vcal_1 codes should align well with vcal_2 data codes. I am specifically talking about the gaps between the vcal_2 to match with vcal_1. However, it appears that the months between two discontinuations is not related to the duration of use/non-use of a contraceptive method (the misalignment) in the data. For now i am using the Uganda DHS 2011 but this problem appears to run through other DHS where vcal_1 and vcal_2 data were collected. When you browse the data, all the first codes for discontinuation are placed in the first column from right to left. For example, for a woman who stopped using a method after 7 months, should have no code for vcal_2 in the first 6 months from right and it should appear in the seventh month as you move to the left and so on. However, this code appears in the first column of Vcla_2. Clearly, the gaps are not matching with the vcal_1 data.

I have gone through a thread of reproductive calendar on this forum but have not found a solution.

Hoping for a response

Thanks
Peter
Re: Alignment of vcal_1 and vcal_2 codes in the data [message #8363 is a reply to message #8337] Thu, 15 October 2015 15:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Liz-DHS
Messages: 1516
Registered: February 2013
Senior Member
Dear User,
Here is a response from Senior Data Processing expert, Mr. Guillermo Rojas,
Quote:
To identify discontinuations in column 2, users need to start from the last row (position 80) in column 1 and keep looking up until they found that a method changed. In the same position in column 2 of the last month of use there should be a code indicating the reason for discontinuation. To illustrate the problem let me put columns 1 and 2 aligned on top of each other.

LLBPPPPPPPP000LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLBPPPPPPPP0099LLLLLLLLLLLLLLBPPP
              2                                    2 8

Quote:
In the example above the respondent started using method L in position 76 (5th month from the bottom of the calendar) in column 1. The respondent used the method for 14 months and changed to method 9, she gave code 8 as the reason for discontinuation. In position 63 (which corresponds to the last month of use of method L), the discontinuation code is recorded in column 2. The respondent then used method 9 for two months and discontinued for reason 2, and so on.

Users need to be aware that chronologically the first month of the calendar correspond to the last position in column 1. Or to put in another way, position 80 of column 1 correspond to the first month where calendar data is collected. That first position correspond to the CMC code given by variable V017.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to post again. Thank you!
Re: Alignment of vcal_1 and vcal_2 codes in the data [message #8369 is a reply to message #8363] Fri, 16 October 2015 03:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kisaakye
Messages: 15
Registered: August 2015
Member
Thank you Mr. Guillermo Rojas for this answer.
Yes, we understand how to read the calendar data and the explanation you give here makes sense to us. However it appears to us that the data is misaligned. The codes in vcal_2 do not appear to be in the right positions they should be. I am attaching a screen grab from the 2011 UDHS to make my point clearer. Please prove to us that the vcal_2 codes are in the right positions.

Thanks
Peter
Re: Alignment of vcal_1 and vcal_2 codes in the data [message #8383 is a reply to message #8369] Tue, 20 October 2015 16:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Trevor-DHS is currently offline  Trevor-DHS
Messages: 787
Registered: January 2013
Senior Member
Hi Kisaakye

Yes, there is a problem of misalignment of the calendars in certain Stata datasets. You can find a post on the issues in message 7048, including a do file for correcting the problem (realign vars.do)

Regards. Trevor
Re: Alignment of vcal_1 and vcal_2 codes in the data [message #8384 is a reply to message #8383] Wed, 21 October 2015 03:34 Go to previous message
Kisaakye
Messages: 15
Registered: August 2015
Member
Thank you so much Trevor for the reply. I will go through the script.
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