Table 1. Examples of rules used in the sequential algorithm.

Rule	Patient’s name	Mother’s name	Date of birth	Address	Constraints
1	Exact	Exact	Exact	-	No missing values Patient’s full name with at least 15 characters in length
2	Same Soundex (of full name)	Exact	Exact	-	No missing values Soundex composed of 3 or + parts No newborns or twins
3	Same Soundex (of full name)	Same Soundex (of full name)	Same day and year	-	No missing values Considering only uncommon names
4	Same four initial characters for first and middle names + exact Soundex for surname	Same Soundex (first name and surname)	Exact	Exact	No missing values No newborns or twins