Medical Birth Register

Register description

In accordance with section 10 of the Personal Data Act 523/1999

• Controller
• Person responsible for the register
• Name of the register
• Grounds for maintaining the register
• Purpose of the register
• Data subjects
• Data content of the Medical Birth Register
• Regular data sources of the register
• Regular disclosure of register data
• Right of access to data and right to rectify an error
• Information on the processing of data
• Principles concerning protection of the files

Controller

Name: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
Postal address: P.O. Box 30
Postcode: FI-00271 Helsinki
Visiting address: Mannerheimintie 166, Helsinki
Tel. (exchange): +358 29 524 6000
 

Person responsible for the register

Name: Anna Heino
Postal address: THL/Information Services/Medical Birth Register
PO Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki
Tel.: +358 29 524 7177, +358 29 524 6000
E-mail: anna.heino[at]thl.fi

 

Name of the register

Medical Birth Register

Grounds for maintaining the register

Statutory

• Act on the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) (668/2008)

Purpose of the register

Statistics and research. The purpose is to collect data in order to develop and organise maternity care, obstetrical services and neonatal care.

Data subjects

The Medical Birth Register was established in 1987. The reforms of the Register in 1990, 1996, 2004 and 2017 were aimed at improving its reliability.

The Register includes data on live births and on stillbirths of foetuses with a birth weight of at least 500 g or with a gestational age of at least 22 weeks, as well as data on the mothers.

The Register incorporates a data file on small preterm infants for which data have been collected since 1 November 2004. The data file contains additional data collected by means of a separate form concerning all live births in Finland with a birth weight of less than 1501 g or with a gestational age at birth of less than 32+0 weeks. The data are collected until the infant's age corresponds to 42 weeks' gestation.

Data content of the Medical Birth Register

Data content of the Medical Birth Register

Personal data of mother  

• personal identity code
• surname and forenames
• profession
• municipality of residence
• nationality
• marital status
• cohabiting

Previous pregnancies and deliveries

• previous pregnancies
• previous deliveries

Present pregnancy and its monitoring

• check-ups during pregnancy
• date of first check-up visit
• mother's weight and height before pregnancy
• mother's smoking habits during pregnancy
• risk factors and interventions relating to pregnancy
• diseases during pregnancy (ICD-10 codes)
• hospital care during pregnancy

Delivery

• maternity hospital
• place of birth
• best estimate of gestational age at the time of delivery
• onset of last period
• duration of delivery
• method of delivery
• pain relief in labour
• other procedures relating to delivery
• diagnoses relating to pregnancy and delivery
• mother's diagnoses during delivery  (ICD-10 codes)

The infant

• date of birth, control character of the personal identity code, time of birth
• sex    
• infant born alive or dead
• number of foetuses = number of infants born
• letter indicating the order of birth in multiple pregnancy
• weight at birth
• length at birth
• head circumference
• Apgar score at 1 minute and 5 minutes
• pH of umbilical blood

Data of the infant by the age of 7 days or at discharge

• care interventions relating to the infant by the age of 7 days
• infant's diagnoses by the age of 7 days
• infant at the age of 7 days or at discharge from hospital
• length of stay in hospital for mother

Data content of the data file Small Preterm Infants

Personal data of mother

• personal identity code
• surname and forenames

Personal data of infant

• date of birth, control character of the personal identity code, time of birth
• surname and forenames
• sex
• best estimate of gestational age at the time of delivery
• weight at birth
• length at birth
• head circumference
• number of foetuses = number of infants born
• letter indicating the order of birth in multiple pregnancy
• maternity hospital
• other basic data

Pregnancy

• mother's diseases and complications during the present pregnancy
• mother's medication before delivery

Delivery

• rupture of amniotic membrane (water breaking)
• diastolic flow in umbilical artery
• Apgar score at 1 minute, 5 minutes and 10 minutes
• pH and BE of umbilical artery blood
• pH and BE of umbilical vein blood
• method of delivery
• presentation at birth
• resuscitation procedures/treatment in delivery room

Treatment received by the infant up to 42 weeks' gestation

•  breathing disorders
•  breathing support
•  surfactant treatment
•  broncopulmonary dysplasia
•  medication
•  infusion routes
•  necrotising enterocolitis
•  procedures and other treatment
•  sepsis
•  ultrasonography of the brain
•  examinations of the fundus of the eye
•  auditory examination
•  magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain

Diagnoses for the infant up to 42 weeks' gestation

• diagnoses
• death diagnoses

The infant's situation at 42 weeks' gestation

• the infant's situation when its age corresponds to 42 weeks' gestation (discharged, in hospital, dead)
• diet at discharge or at 42 weeks' gestation
• weight, length and head circumference at discharge or at 42 weeks' gestation

All hospitals where the infant has been treated up to 42 weeks' gestation

• hospitals and wards where the infant has been treated
• transferred to the next hospital
• where the infant has been transferred
• date, and the name and position of the person who has filled in the form

Information on parturients death

• date of death
• information on maternal death
• information on parturients deaths within one year after the pregnancy ended 
• cause of death

Regular data sources of the register

• Maternity hospitals (maternity wards and neonatal wards)
• Population Information System of the Population Register Centre
• Statistics Finland, Population Statistics: Causes of Death

Regular disclosure of register data

FinData is authorised to disclose data in the Medical Birth Register to researchers for scientific research purposes.

Right of access to data and right to rectify an error

The Medical Birth Register is a statutory statistical and research register and the personal data stored in it are not used in decision-making or care concerning the data subjects.

Information on the processing of data

The controller is not liable to inform the data subjects on data processing, because the Medical Birth Register is a statutory register.

Principles concerning protection of the files

The Medical Birth Register functions in accordance with the THL data security guidelines, which are part of the THL plan for general contingency and protection.

The materials of the Medical Birth Register, both in paper form and in electronic form, are kept in locked premises. Access to the premises is given only to certain named employees responsible for the Register. Electronic material is protected by user names and passwords. The Register uses access control software (auditing log).