Journal of clinical epidemiology
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The Apgar score is widely used for several purposes: to discriminate between infants who require resuscitation at birth and those who do not; to predict outcome; and to evaluate change in the condition of the newly born over the first minutes of life. Using published evidence of its clinical reliability and validity, this article explores whether the Apgar score serves all three measurement purposes equally well. ⋯ For predicting later death or handicap, the Apgar score is insensitive but fairly specific. The ability of the Apgar score to measure change over time has not been studied systematically; however, available data suggest that serial Apgar ratings in infants with early low scores detect clinically important recovery of lack thereof.
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Completeness of cancer registration has not been consistently ascertained across different registries. This report describes how capture-recapture methods have been used to estimate completeness at the Ontario Cancer Registry. ⋯ In the present analysis, estimates of completeness of the registry as a whole were remarkably similar using either two or three data sources, and site-specific comparisons differed by at most 7%. Because of the advantages of capture-recapture methods-estimation of level of completeness, possible comparability of estimates across different registries, and versatility to consider other determinants of cancer registration-a plea for greater use of these methods in cancer registration is made.