Mortality experience of the 1986-2000 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files participants

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has produced the 1986-2000 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Linked Mortality Files by linking eligible adults in the 1986-2000 NHIS cohorts through probabilistic record linkage to the National Death Index to obtain mortality follow-up through December 31, 2002. The resulting files contain more than 120,000 deaths and an average of 9 years of survival time. To assess how well mortality was ascertained in the linked mortality files, NCHS has conducted a comparison of the mortality experience of the 1986-2000 NHIS cohorts with that of the U.S. population. This report presents the results of this comparative mortality assessment. Methods The survival of each annual NHIS cohort was compared with that of the U.S. population during the same period. Cumulative survival probabilities for each annual NHIS cohort were derived using the Kaplan-Meier product limit method, and corresponding cumulative survival probabilities were computed for the U.S. population using information from annual U.S. life tables. The survival probabilities were calculated at various lengths of follow-up for each age-race-sex group of each NHIS cohort and for the U.S. population. Results As expected, mortality tended to be underestimated in the NHIS cohorts because the sample includes only civilian, noninstitutionalized persons, but this underestimation generally was not statistically significant. Statistically significant differences increased with length of follow-up, occurred more often for white females than for the other race-sex groups, and occurred more often in the oldest age groups. In general, the survival experience of the age-race-sex groups of each NHIS cohort corresponds quite closely to that of the U.S. population, providing support that the ascertainment of mortality through the probabilistic record linkage accurately reflects the mortality experience of the NHIS cohorts.