DECLINING INDUCED-ABORTION RATE IN FINLAND - DATA QUALITY OF THE FINNISH ABORTION REGISTER

Background. Induced abortion rates have declined in Finland since 1973 . A possible explanation offered has been that of deteriorating data c ollection. Methods. To assess the completeness of the Register, we com pared the information from a consecutive sample of hospital records (N = 482) to the Finnish Abortion Register in 18 hospitals in three coun ties. A smaller consecutive sample (N = 345) was collected from the sa me hospitals to assess the validity of the Register information. Resul ts. Only five abortions (1%) found in the hospitals were not reported in the Abortion Register. A total of 95% of all Register information w as identical to that in the medical records. There were quality proble ms in reporting some variables: the length of pregnancy (definition pr oblems), the classification of the abortion procedure, and social clas s (out-of-date classifications). Furthermore, early complications were poorly reported. Conclusions. The data from the Finnish Abortion Regi ster are a reliable source for monitoring trends in the abortion rate and its variation by subgroups, but are an unreliable source for the s tudy of the medical aspects of induced abortion.