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A comparison of occupational data from death certificates and interviews
1National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Etiology, Bethesda, MD 20892.
American Journal of Industrial Medicine
|January 1, 1991
Summary
Occupational data on death certificates show limited agreement with employment history interviews. Improving death certificate instructions may enhance data accuracy for epidemiologic studies.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Occupational Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Accurate occupational data is crucial for epidemiologic studies to understand disease etiology.
- Death certificates are a potential source for occupational information, but their reliability needs evaluation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare occupational and industrial data from death certificates with interview-obtained employment histories.
- To assess the concordance levels and identify factors influencing agreement between these two data sources.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 586 men compared death certificate occupational data with detailed employment histories from interviews.
- Agreement was analyzed across 19 occupational and 14 industrial categories.
- Concordance was examined based on respondent type (self-respondents vs. surrogates), duration of employment, and educational level.
Main Results:
- Overall agreement was 56% for usual occupation and 51% for usual industry.
- Highest concordance was observed for agricultural, medical, and public administration fields.
- Agreement increased with longer employment duration and higher educational attainment.
- Self-respondents and spousal surrogates showed higher agreement than other surrogate types.
Conclusions:
- Occupational data from death certificates may have limited value in epidemiologic research due to significant disagreement with interview data.
- Discrepancies often stem from coding issues related to vague or misleading information on death certificates.
- Enhancing death certificate instructions could improve the quality and completeness of employment information for research purposes.
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