Validity of the perinatal health indicators at a national scale
The description of the indicators concerns the sample of births from each maternity unit
participating in the network during one month only. The estimations are made by applying a standardisation technique of rates,
permitting the joint distribution of deliveries in France according to the geographical situation
and the type of centre. The distribution model is the distribution of deliveries in France according to
the geographical situation and the type of centre, established from 1999 SAE statistics
(Statistiques d'activité des établissements – hospital activity statistics ) (last updating of the CD Rom by the DRESS in 2001).
This technique consists in assigning a weight to each pregnancy so that the distribution of deliveries according to
the type of centre and to the geographical situation is the same in our sample than in all France. This method
allows us to obtain perinatal health parameters values valid at a national scale. Previously, this technique had
already proved its validity thanks to the comparison of our results with those of the French DGS-INSERM (U 149)
surveys carried out in 1995 and 1998.
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