Data Source
Texas Vital Statistics (VSTAT)Data Description
These birth data come from the Texas Certificate of Live Birth. A new Texas birth certificate was introduced in 2005, which included several changes. The process involved in this revision, as well as details of what was revised, can be found on the CDC website. For some variables, including onset of prenatal care, data from 2005 onward should not be directly compared to data from 2004 and before.
Measure Information
This dashboard excludes unknown values and masks low counts with “—“. If a geographic area has no counts for one or more of the selected variables, that row will not show in the table. The location variables (region, county, ZIP) refer to the mother’s residence.
Definitions
- Delivery route – whether the delivery was by cesarean section (C-section) or vaginal. Vaginal deliveries could be spontaneous (unassisted) or assisted by forceps or vacuum.
- Newborn’s birthweight – low or very low birthweight includes birthweights under 2,500 grams, and normal birthweight includes birthweights 2,500 grams or greater.
- Newborn’s gestation – whether the newborn was premature or not. Premature births include those of 36 weeks gestational age (the length of pregnancy) and below.
- Plurality – the number of births from a single pregnancy (single birth, twins, triplets, etc.).
- Spacing – the length of time between the mother’s last live birth and this birth.
Race and Ethnicity
For data prior to 2012, Non-Hispanic Other race/ethnicity category also includes records with Unknown race/ethnicity. For data 2012+, Non-Hispanic Other race/ethnicity category also includes records with Unknown race/ethnicity and Multiple race responses.
Public Health Regions
Effective 2024, Gaines, Dawson, and Borden Counties moved from PHR 9 to PHR 1. All PHR data reflects this change, regardless of year.