OBJECTIVE:

to present a method for estimating low birth weight (LBW) prevalence and infant mortality rate (IMR) indicators for Brazilian municipalities, so as to incorporate considerations with regard to sampling fluctuation.

METHODS:

binomial and Poisson distributions were used to estimate 95% confidence intervals (95%CI); when the number of infant deaths was zero, the upper limit of the 95%CI was estimated by the cross-multiplication method; indicators were estimated for the year 2012 for demonstration purposes.

RESULTS:

a slight increase in LBW and a decrease in IMR were detected as municipality population size increased; LBW estimates were more accurate than those for IMR; single-year estimates showed large width 95%CI in small municipalities and low reliability.

CONCLUSION:

an electronic spreadsheet was developed which will allow service managers to estimate the precision of these indicators for their municipalities.

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