DATA STORY
Days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth
Days of pregnancy lost in San Francisco because of early birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy
Maternal, Child, and Adolescent HealthTotal days of pregnancy lost per 1000 births by population group
The total number of days of pregnancy lost per 1000 births in a group is a sensitive measure of preterm birth that can be useful for small groups or short time periods.
More days of pregnancy lost for a group signals need for services to prevent preterm birth.
Fewer days of pregnancy lost provides early signs that services are working to prevent preterm birth.
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Data notes and sources
The days of pregnancy lost for a group is the sum of the total number of days of pregnancy lost by each person for every person who had a live birth in the group. Assuming 40 total possible weeks of pregnancy for each person, it calculates how many days were missed because of early birth for each person and then sums each total days missed for the whole group. The total for the group is then expressed per 1000 days of pregnancy.
The days of pregnancy lost can detect small changes in preterm birth risk over time. It offers a time-based metric to check for preterm birth risk for small groups that cannot use count-based metrics. A large number of days of pregnancy lost means that a few babies in the group were born many weeks early AND/OR many babies in the group were born only a week early.
Data source:
- California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Record Business Information System (VRBIS). VRBIS data include one birth certificate record for each and every baby born in California.
- Data were analyzed by the San Francisco (SF) Department of Public Health Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Epidemiology Section.
Data notes:
- Preterm birth is defined as live birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy.
- We count preterm births experienced by San Francisco residents between January 1 and December 31 of each year.
Data limitations:
- Data are not shown if the total number of births in the group in the period was less than 10.
Hold down the 'crtl' key to select more than one population group. Consider two rates significantly different if their 95% confidence intervals do not overlap.
Days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth by zip code
The number of days of pregnancy lost because of preterm birth varies significantly by zip code and year.
Navigating dashboards with a keyboard
- Control + Enter to enter the dashboard
- Tab or Arrow to move between visuals
- Control + Right arrow to enter a visual or filter
- Escape to exit a visual, filter or dashboard
Navigating within a visual or filter
- Tab or Arrow to move around a table or visual
- Enter to select within a table or visual
- Spacebar to select or deselect a filter
Data notes and sources
Data source:
- California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Record Business Information System (VRBIS). VRBIS data include one birth certificate record for each and every baby born in California.
- Data were analyzed by the San Francisco (SF) Department of Public Health Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Epidemiology Section.
Data limitations:
- Data are not shown if the total number of births in the zip code and year was less than 10.
Use the confidence intervals to find out if the number of days of pregnancy lost differed by zip code or year. Confidence intervals that do not overlap are significantly different.
More information
See linked pages about preterm birth in San Francisco