The Perinatal Database of the Netherlands

Objective: In the Netherlands, the Perinatal Database of the Netherlands (L andelijke Verloskunderegistratie, LVR) was set up in 1982 for secondary car e obstetric departments on a voluntary participation basis, its main goal b eing quality monitoring. At the outset of the database, 70% of Dutch obstet ric departments participated immediately. This percentage has now increased to almost 100%. How the LVR was set up, its aims, participation, general f unction and some aspects of the reliability are described in this article. Results: Assessment of the reliability of the data on a number of points fo und that the frequency of various types of nearly all errors has decreased during the existence of the LVR, with the exception of a complete registrat ion of the first-week mortality. Conclusions: The quality of the data has i mproved over the years. More reliable figures for the first-week mortality would be available if the LVR data were linked to those of the Neonatal Dat abase of the Netherlands (Landelijk Neonatale Registratie, LNR), so that th e condition of each child is known up to and including 28 days after birth. Improvements in the reliability of other items can be attained by implemen ting more checks during the data input stage and by making the data more ac cessible to the gynaecologists, in order to further increase motivation to record the data. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved .