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Development and Testing of Interview Questions to Determine Last Menstrual Period in Mexican Immigrant Populations

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Abstract

The last menstrual period is used to estimate gestational age. This paper examines sources of measurement error related to the recall of last menstrual period among Mexican immigrant women living in the United States. Qualitative analyses (focus groups and cognitive interviews) suggest that last menstrual period recall does not seem to be a large source of measurement error in the calculation of gestational age and the impact of this type of error on the misclassification of preterm births appears to be minimal. Questions for querying about last menstrual period in this population are offered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Health Statistics Research, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    Natalia Deeb-Sossa, Robert P. Agans, Betzabe C. Butron-Riveros & William D. Kalsbeek

  2. The University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas

    Hector Balcazar

  3. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

    Pierre Buekens

Authors
  1. Natalia Deeb-Sossa
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  2. Robert P. Agans
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  3. Betzabe C. Butron-Riveros
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  4. Hector Balcazar
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  5. William D. Kalsbeek
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  6. Pierre Buekens
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pierre Buekens.

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Deeb-Sossa, N., Agans, R.P., Butron-Riveros, B.C. et al. Development and Testing of Interview Questions to Determine Last Menstrual Period in Mexican Immigrant Populations. Journal of Immigrant Health 6, 127–136 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOIH.0000030228.55939.8d

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOIH.0000030228.55939.8d

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