Objective: To study demographic and health related variables included in the municipal birth registry. Differences among municipal districts are assessed, as an approach to the study of inequalities in pregnancy, in birth and in its care.
Design: Observational study, based on secondary utilization of vital statistics data. SITE: The city of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain), for the 1990-1991 years.
Participants: Births from women who are city residents.
Main results: Births concentrate around maternal ages of 25-29 years and 30-34. Adolescent mothers (less than 20 years) represent only a proportion of 1.9% of all births, and births from women above 34 years 13.7%, although only 2.1% of all births are from mothers above 40 years of age. Low birth weight (less than 2,500 g) occurs in 5.6% of all births. Preterm births (less than 37 weeks) occur in 4.7% of all deliveries. Teen age fertility, births to women above 34 years, low birth weight and preterm deliveries are compared across districts. Overall, four out of ten women use a public hospital for delivery, but this varies greatly among districts. There is no information on the father for 1.6% of all births.
Conclusions: The completeness of this information source is high and the municipal registry is a useful database for the analysis of inequalities in small areas, using health related indicators which have higher frequency than more traditional indicators based on rare events (such as infant mortality). Differences among areas are found, related to life conditions and to prenatal and birth care.