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Person—date of birth, MMYYYY

Identifying and definitional attributes

Metadata item type:Help on this termData Element
Short name:Help on this termDate of birth month and year
METEOR identifier:Help on this term743728
Registration status:Help on this term
  • Tasmanian Health, Superseded 06/05/2021
Definition:Help on this term

The date of birth of the person, expressed as MMYYYY.

Data Element Concept:Person—date of birth

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Representation class:Help on this termDate
Data type:Help on this termDate/Time
Format:Help on this termMMYYYY
Maximum character length:Help on this term6

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

Guide for use:Help on this term

If date of birth is not known or cannot be obtained, provision should be made to collect or estimate age. Collected or estimated age would usually be in years for adults, and to the nearest three months (or less) for children aged less than two years. Additionally, an estimated date flag or a date accuracy indicator should be reported in conjunction with all estimated dates of birth.

For data collections concerned with children's services, it is suggested that the estimated date of birth of children aged under 2 years should be reported to the nearest 3 month period, i.e. 0101, 0104, 0107, 0110 of the estimated year of birth. For example, a child who is thought to be aged 18 months in October of one year would have his/her estimated date of birth reported as 0104 of the previous year. Again, an estimated date flag or date accuracy indicator should be reported in conjunction with all estimated dates of birth.

Collection methods:Help on this term

Information on date of birth can be collected using the one question:

What is your/(the person's) date of birth?

In self-reported data collections, it is recommended that the following response format is used:

Date of birth: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _

This enables easy conversion to the preferred representational layout (DDMMYYYY).

For record identification and/or the derivation of other metadata items that require accurate date of birth information, estimated dates of birth should be identified by a date accuracy indicator to prevent inappropriate use of date of birth data. The linking of client records from diverse sources, the sharing of patient data, and data analysis for research and planning all rely heavily on the accuracy and integrity of the collected data. In order to maintain data integrity and the greatest possible accuracy an indication of the accuracy of the date collected is critical. The collection of an indicator of the accuracy of the date may be essential in confirming or refuting the positive identification of a person. For this reason it is strongly recommended that the data element Date—accuracy indicator, code AAA also be recorded at the time of record creation to flag the accuracy of the data.

Comments:Help on this term

Privacy issues need to be taken into account in asking persons their date of birth.

Wherever possible and wherever appropriate, date of birth should be used rather than age because the actual date of birth allows a more precise calculation of age.

When date of birth is an estimated or default value, national health and community services collections typically use 0101 or 0107 or 3006 as the estimate or default for DDMM.

It is suggested that different rules for reporting data may apply when estimating the date of birth of children aged under 2 years because of the rapid growth and development of children within this age group which means that a child's development can vary considerably over the course of a year. Thus, more specific reporting of estimated age is suggested.

Source and reference attributes

Submitting organisation:Help on this term

Department of Health Tasmania 

Origin:Help on this term

National Health Data Committee

National Community Services Data Committee

Reference documents:Help on this term

Standards Australia 2002. AS5017—2002 Health Care Client Identification. Sydney: Standards Australia

Standards Australia 2004. AS4846—2004 Health Care Provider Identification. Sydney: Standards Australia

Relational attributes

Related metadata references:Help on this term
See also Date—accuracy indicator, code AAA
  • ACT Health (retired), Candidate 09/08/2018
  • Community Services (retired), Standard 30/09/2005
  • Disability, Standard 07/10/2014
  • Early Childhood, Standard 21/05/2010
  • Health, Standard 04/05/2005
  • Homelessness, Standard 23/08/2010
  • Housing assistance, Standard 23/08/2010
See also Date—estimate indicator, code N
  • Community Services (retired), Standard 27/04/2007
  • Tasmanian Health, Incomplete 23/07/2012
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