Demographic considerations in analyzing decedents by usual occupation

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Sociology

Background:

• Public health research relies on US death certificates for decedent industry and occupation (I&O) data to study mortality.
• This data often has limitations, including missing I&O information and assumptions about current employment status.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the demographic implications of using death certificate I&O data in public health research.
• To describe usual occupation and current employment status among decedents by demographic characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 36,507 decedents (age 22+) from the 2016 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) across 32 US states.
• Occupation data classified by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) from death certificates.
• Identification of decedents not employed at death using supplementary NVDRS data sources.

Main Results:

• Female, younger male, some non-White racial groups, less educated, and undetermined intent decedents were less likely to have SOC-classified occupations from death certificates due to insufficient information.
• Decedents classified by SOC but not employed at death were more often older, White, less educated, died by suicide, or held nonmanagement occupations.

Conclusions:

• Decedent occupation classification from death certificates can vary significantly by demographic characteristics.
• Understanding these variations is crucial for accurately interpreting public health research findings and addressing potential biases in mortality studies.