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© 1996 Oxford University Press

research-article

Declining Induced Abortion Rate in Finland: Data Quality of the Finnish Abortion Register

MIKA GISSLER*, VELI-MATTI ULANDER*, ELINA HEMMINKI* and ANJA RASIMUS{dagger}

* Health services Research Unit, Development Centre for Welfare and Health PO Box 220, 00531 Helsiniki, Finland.
{dagger} Statisics, Registers and Information Systems Unit, (STAKES) National Resercal and Development Centre for Welfare and Health PO Box 220, 00531 Helsiniki, Finland.

BACKGROUND: Induced abortion rates have declined in Finland since 1973. A possible explanation offered has been that of deteriorating data collection.

METHODS: To assess the completeness of the Register, we compared the information from a consecutive sample of hospital records (N = 482) to the Finnish Abortion Register in 18 hospitals in three counties. A smaller consecutive sample (N = 345) was collected from the same hospitals to assess the validity of the Register information.

RESULTS: Only five abortions (1%) found in the hospitals were not reported in the Abortion Register. A total of 95% of all Register information was identical to that in the medical records. There were quality problems in reporting some variables: the length of pregnancy (definition problems), the classification of the abortion procedure, and social class (out-of-date classifications). Furthermore, early complications were poorty reported.

CONCLUSIONS: The data from the Finnish Abortion Register are a reliable sources for monitoring trends in the abortion rate and its variation by subgroups, but are an unreliable source for the study of the medical aspects of induced abortion.

Keywords abortion, completeness, data quality, register study, validity

Revised 1 July 1995


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