OBJECTIVES: to characterize deliveries and live births of mothers residing in the municipality of Piripiri, Piauí State, Brazil, based on the Live Births Information System data. METHODS: cross-sectional study on quantitative analysis, using data related to 3636 births occurred during 2000-2002. The study's variables were: birth place, newborns sex and birthweight, maternal age, marital status and schooling, gestational age, type of delivery and number of prenatal care medical visits. RESULTS: almost all women gave birth at the hospital (99.6%). The masculine sex was prevalent (51.1%) while low birthweight percentage was reduced (4.6%). Regarding the mothers, 30% were adolescents and 74.8% had not completed elementary school. An increasing number of term live births (95.6% in 2000 to 98.3% in 2002) was determined, vaginal births (75.2% in 2000 to 77.5% in 2002) and prenatal care appointments (78.1% in 2000 to 83.3% in 2002). CONCLUSIONS: Live Births Information System is a useful available tool to monitor maternal and newborn data at a local level. The reduced percentage of categories marked as "unknown" demonstrated information quality improvement throughout time.
Live births; Information systems; Maternal and child health
