Abstract
The paper presents experience in probabilistic linkage of the records in the Arkhangelsk County Birth Registry with regional infant mortality data. Practical issues of the procedure of independent depersonalized datasets linkage are discussed. Two datasets have similar indirect identifiers that were used to match the records. The combined database contains information on maternal health and pregnancy outcome as well as infant health. Also, it includes data on infant's age at death and cause of death. Our experience can be useful for researchers dealing with registry-based studies in settings where personal identification numbers are not available. Linked data sets give an opportunity to explore risk factors of neonatal and infant death and to investigate survival in newborns having different health problems, including prematurity. Our experience can be used for development of large birth cohorts using the data from the population-based birth registries in the Russian North as baseline for studying long-term effects of factors during pregnancy on health later in life.