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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2014 Mar 27;28(3):203–212. doi: 10.1111/ppe.12120

Table 2.

Percent agreement of birth certificate-derived prepregnancy body mass index categories with medical record derived categories in the validation study subcohort by race/ethnicity and gestational age at delivery. a,b

Birth certificate classification Birth certificates n (%) Validation study n Medical record classification
Underweight Normal weight and overweight Obese class 1 Obese classes 2 & 3
Non-Hispanic white women delivering at term
 Underweight 27,474 (3.2) 90 74.4% 25.6% 0% 0%
 Normal weight or overweight 511,213 (64.6) 90 0% 98.9% 1.1% 0%
 Obese class 1 74,008 (8.7) 84 0% 13.1% 79.8% 7.1%
 Obese classes 2&3 58,227 (6.8) 90 0% 2.2% 6.7% 91.1%
Non-Hispanic black women delivering at term
 Underweight 3,928 (0.5) 84 69.0% 31.0% 0% 0%
 Normal weight or overweight 78,007 (9.1) 90 2.2% 93.3% 2.2% 2.2%
 Obese class 1 17,631 (2.1) 87 0% 31.0% 51.7% 17.2%
 Obese classes 2&3 15,540 (1.8) 90 0% 3.3% 5.6% 91.1%
Non-Hispanic white women delivering preterm
 Underweight 3,201 (0.4) 65 69.2% 30.8% 0% 0%
 Normal weight or overweight 37,541 (4.4) 90 0% 98.9% 1.1% 0%
 Obese class 1 6,118 (0.7) 69 0% 10.1% 72.5% 17.4%
 Obese classes 2&3 5,251 (0.6) 67 0% 1.4% 9.0% 89.6%
Non-Hispanic black women delivering preterm
 Underweight 686 (0.8) 19 57.9% 42.1% 0% 0%
 Normal weight or overweight 10,361 (1.2) 63 0% 93.3% 6.7% 0%
 Obese class 1 2,304 (0.3) 51 0% 13.7% 68.6% 17.7%
 Obese classes 2&3 2,069 (0.2) 48 0% 0% 0% 100%
a

Agreement proportion is calculated as the probability that women in each birth certificate-derived prepregnancy BMI category were truly underweight, truly normal weight, truly overweight, truly obese class 1, and truly obese classes 2 and 3 by the medical record.

b

Preterm birth is defined as <37 weeks gestation based on birth certificate-derived gestational age; prepregnancy body mass index categories were underweight, <18.5 kg/m2; normal or overweight, 18.5–29.9 kg/m2; obese class 1, 30–34.9 kg/m2; obese classes 2 and 3, ≥35 kg/m2.