Background and Use

History

The Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank was initiated in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology by the late Professor Sir Dugald Baird, in 1950, in collaboration with the Medical Research Council (MRC) Medical Sociology Unit, as a resource for the study of physiology, pathology and sociology of pregnancy. From 1951 to present this unique database links all the obstetric and fertility-related events occurring to women from a defined population.

Initially the data was held on punched cards, but by 1986 it was redeveloped onto a SIR database. This database now holds data for all Aberdeen City births from 1949 to the present day, with the MRC Medical Sociology Unit retaining responsibility for data relating to the period 1949 to 1983 inclusive and the University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology maintaining and controlling the data thereafter.

Overview

The Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank is held as a Scientific Information Retrieval (SIR) Hierarchical Database on a Solaris Unix Platform, within the Directorate of Information Systems and Services, Edward Wright Building, Dunbar Street, ABERDEEN. Data analysis is performed using Procedural Query Language PQL/SIR modules and anonymised data sets have been provided as a basis for several research studies - see Publications.

The database is accessed from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology over the University network via security passwords. It is updated using SIR/FORMS, on a weekly basis, from a separate continuously maintained database, which is functionally equivalent, but holds medical data as free text at the point of data entry. This text is automatically converted to ICD/GRO codes prior to update of the main research database. The database is updated by up to 5 concurrent users, with information relating to approximately 100 births every week.

Information on approximately 200,000 pregnancies/deliveries is held on the research database amounting to half a Gigabyte of storage across 45 record types, 4 of which are mandatory and contain data for the patient, pregnancy, delivery and baby and a further 40 optional record types used for clinical details, test results and grouping of complete reproductive histories for individual women and families spanning three generations. These records are detailed in the Contents section.

Features

As mentioned above the Databank has been used for a number of research related projects - ranging from epidemiological studies within Aberdeen to collaborative work with other units world-wide, where anonymous extracts of the data are provided, usually in SPSS format.

The Databank has a number of unique and special features which make it a particularly valuable resource for research purposes:

1. Total Population

   All reproductive events to women resident in a defined geographical area with a relatively stable population are included.

2. All Fertility Related Events

   All obstetric and fertility related gynaecological events, e.g., sterilisation, early pregnancies etc. are included in the Databank. This feature greatly enhances the quality of epidemiological and demographic data.

3. Original Records (Hard copy)

   The original Maternity case records are available for the whole period. Additional data items can thus be added to the Databank for selected cases and validity of data can be checked systematically.

4. Duration

   Data collection has been continuous since 1950 and is ongoing, allowing study of secular change, and identification of considerable numbers of intergenerational, sibling and twin pairs for the study of genetic and environmental influences upon reproductive performance.

5. High Quality and Consistent Data

   Stringent and consistent criteria have been used for the coding of gestation length, birthweight, pregnancy complications and cause of perinatal death by trained coding staff. When metrication was introduced for recording of height, birthweight etc., the earlier records were all converted.

6. Multiple Pregnancies

   Zygosity has been determined for the majority of twin pairs from 1968 onwards. This is also available for surviving twins born between 1960 and 1964.

7. Record Linkage

   Computerisation allows relatively easy identification of complete reproductive histories not only of individual women but also of families. Using this information intergenerational analysis can be performed.

8. Extensive Social Data

   An unusual amount of social data is available for most years including occupational for women, husbands or partners, grandfathers, duration of education and lifestyle factors such as smoking.