General Release Notes

2018 Birth

New Cell Suppression Criteria

Cell suppression criteria have changed. In accordance with data use restrictions set forth by Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), cell counts of fewer than 9 events and rates based on counts of 9 or fewer will be suppressed and denoted with a double asterisk (**). This change has been implemented throughout the Birth Record module and applies to all years.

The NCHS further recommends that rates based on counts of less than 20 or that have a relative standard error (RSE) of 23% or greater should be regarded as unreliable.

2014 Birth

Changes to the Birth Certificate

A new birth certificate data collection form was implemented in Hawaii in 2014. This new form and some procedural changes in how some data elements are captured resulted in discernable differences in some of these data elements before and after the change. In prior years, infant gestational age at birth was calculated based on the date of last menstrual period as reported by the mother. As of 2014, gestational age is based on the health care provider's assessment; therefore, dimensions based on gestational age cannot be trended. Accordingly, HHDW has created two new dimensions starting in 2014:

• Infant's Gestational Age (2014+)
• Trimester Prenatal Care Began (2014+)

Birth method data (Birth Type) has also been impacted by this data collection change. We are working with the Office of Health Status Monitoring at DOH to determine the best way to handle these changes. In the meantime, analysis by birth method is limited to 2000-2013.

All Years

Race/Ethnicity Data

The birth certificate allows for up to 4 race/ethnicities to be captured for both the mother and the father. The DOH Office of Health Status Monitoring (OHSM) uses the following algorithm to code a single race/ethnicity for each individual. Ethnicity of the child is based on the ethnicity of the father. It is based on the ethnicity of the mother when the ethnicity of the father is unknown.

Only one ethnicity is coded from the actual certificates. If more than one ethnicity is listed on the certificate, the following rules apply:

1. If Hawaiian is one of the multiple ethnicities listed, Part-Hawaiian is coded.
2. If a non-Caucasian ethnicity is listed with a Caucasian ethnicity, the non-Caucasian ethnicity is coded.
3. If there is more than one non-Caucasian ethnicity listed, the first one is coded.
4. If there is more than one Caucasian ethnicity listed, the first one is coded.

In IBIS, the most granular level is the program race/ethnicity (PRG) which rolls up into the DOH standard race/ethnicity (DOH), which rolls up into Census race reporting categories (Census). The table below illustrates how the data is aggregated.

Race/Ethnicity Classifications
Source Race/Ethnicity	Program Race/Ethnicity (PRG)	DOH Race/Ethnicity (DOH)	Census Race (Census)
Asian Indian	Asian Indian	Other Asian	Asian
Black	Black	Black	Black or African American
Caucasian	Caucasian	Caucasian	Caucasian
Chinese	Chinese	Chinese	Asian
Cuban	Cuban	Other	Other
Filipino	Filipino	Filipino	Asian
Guamanian	Guamanian	Other Pacific Islander	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
Hawaiian	Hawaiian	Native Hawaiian	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
Part Hawaiian	Part Hawaiian	Native Hawaiian	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
Indian	Indian	Native Alaskan/American Indian	Native Alaskan/American Indian
Japanese	Japanese	Japanese	Asian
Korean	Korean	Other Asian	Asian
Mexican	Mexican	Other	Other
Portuguese	Portuguese	Caucasian	Caucasian
Puerto Rican	Puerto Rican	Other	Other
Samoan	Samoan	Other Pacific Islander	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander