[Babase] Twins in BaBase
Catherine Markham
babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
Mon, 01 Aug 2005 16:24:54 -0400
Hi all,
This note is just a summary of how twins are handled in BaBase. I'm not
posting a question, but of course comments are good if anyone has
feedback or something to add.
To date, we have records on 2 cases of twins: Plum gave birth to Pili
and Pole on 29 November 1982, and Cete had stillborn twins on 2 December
1982.
The protocol in place for handling data entry for twins is to assign
each twin the same pid. This way they are both linked to a single row
in Pregs and, in turn, to the mother's cycle data. For example, both
Pili and Pole have a pid of PLU6.
Because twins are so rare, finding a duplicate pid in a query result may
look like a mistake/dupe record at first glance. PLU's twins are easier
to distinguish since both are named and their sexes are different (Pili
is female, Pole was male). CET's twins are trickier - both were males
and, since they were stillbirths, neither one has a name or sname.
Their records in Biograph are identical.
PLU's twins have been in Biograph since I've been here, but I have just
added CET's twins to the system today (previously there was just a
record for a single stillbirth). I added a row for the second stillborn
infant with all the same data for status, birth, sex, statdate, dcause,
and pid.
In addition to this posting and a note in the BaBase Corrections file,
Jeanne suggested describing how to handle entry for twins in the
Protocols for Data Management Guide. I'll draft a description for
Jeanne and Susan to review.
Catherine