A method for identifying underlying causes of death in epidemiological study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Accurate determination of underlying causes of death is crucial for public health surveillance and epidemiological research.
• Traditional methods may face challenges in data linkage and completeness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of record linkage for obtaining underlying causes of death using specific demographic data.
• To assess the effectiveness of linking National Vital Statistics death tapes with resident data for epidemiological studies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized record linkage between resident cards and National Vital Statistics death tapes.
• Matched individuals based on date of birth, date of death, and address code at the time of death.
• Calculated matching rates for complete and near-complete data agreement.

Main Results:

• A 97.4% match rate was achieved using identical information across date of birth, date of death, and address code.
• An extended match rate of 99.4% was obtained when allowing for one differing item.
• The high match rate indicates the reliability of the linkage method.

Conclusions:

• Record linkage of death tapes with resident data using date of birth, date of death, and address code is a highly effective method for determining underlying causes of death.
• This linkage method is sufficiently accurate for use in epidemiological studies, even without individual names.
• The findings support the utility of this approach for enhancing vital statistics data analysis.