Feasibility of Nationwide Birth Registry Control Selection in the United States

• Published in: American journal of epidemiology Vol. 166; no. 7; pp. 852 - 856
• Main Authors: Spector, Logan G., Ross, Julie A., Puumala, Susan E., Roesler, Michelle, Olshan, Andrew F., Bunin, Greta R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cary, NC Oxford University Press 01.10.2007; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Age Factors; Analysis. Health state; Biological and medical sciences; Birth Certificates; Cancer; Case-Control Studies; Child, Preschool; Childbirth & labor; Clinical Trials as Topic - methods; Confidentiality; Demographics; Epidemiology; Feasibility Studies; Female; General aspects; Hepatoblastoma - epidemiology; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Leukemia - epidemiology; Liver Neoplasms - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; methods; Miscellaneous; neoplasms; Patient Selection; Pediatrics; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Public records; Registries - standards; Sample Size; sampling studies; United States - epidemiology; United States; North America; America; sampling studies; neoplasms; methods; pediatrics; case-control studies; Human; Family planning; Methodology; Selection; Contraception; Case control study; Method; Epidemiology; Birth control; Register; Tumor; Feasibility; Sampling; Child; Public health
• ISSN: 0002-9262; 1476-6256
• DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwm143

As random digit dialing becomes increasingly unfeasible for many types of studies, alternative methods for control selection are needed, especially for studies of childhood cancer. US birth registries are an appealing source of young control children because they are population based, provide demographic and pregnancy data for comparison of participants with the study base, and maintain data that enable matching on birth characteristics. Here the authors describe the ability of US birth registries to release information sufficient to locate potential control subjects for two ongoing case-control studies of hepatoblastoma and infant leukemia. The birth registries of 32 states, in which 75.8% of US children 0–5 years of age resided in 2004, agreed to participate in control selection. Data sufficient to track participants and to characterize nonrespondents were available from a majority of registries. These results suggest that birth registries may be used to select controls for studies of rare childhood diseases on a national scale.