Original reportA Primer and Comparative Review of Major U.S. Mortality Databases
Section snippets
Selected Abbreviations and Acronyms
AAC = Austin Automation Center
BIRLS = Beneficiary Identification and Records Locator System
DMF = Death Master File
HEC = Health Eligibility Center
ICD-9 = International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision.
MVR = Master Veteran Record
NCHS = National Center for Health Statistics
NCS = National Cemetery System
NDI = National Death Index
OBRA = Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
PTF = Patient Treatment File
SAS = Statistical Analysis System
VBA = Veterans Benefits Administration
VHA = Veterans Health
National center for health statistics (nchs) national death index (ndi)
The NDI is currently considered the “gold standard” of mortality ascertainment. Implemented in 1981 by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the NDI fulfills the need for a national source of mortality information. The NDI is designed to save time, cost and effort in medical and health research studies that use death data (1). NDI reporting is a mandatory requirement and the population covered by NDI is the entire population of the United States.
State-mandated death certificates are
Death Master File (DMF)
The SSA Death Master File (DMF)—consisting of over 60 million records—is created from the SSA Numerical Identification (NUMIDENT) file as a public use file. The file contains the following fields: SSN, name, date of birth, date of death, state or country of residence (February 1998 and prior), ZIP code of last residence, and ZIP code where lump sum payment is received. While most of the SSA files contain data starting from the 1940s, a majority of the deaths reported in the DMF are from the
The department of veterans affairs (va)
Two Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) databases provide mortality information—the BIRLS and the Patient Treatment File (PTF). For the most accurate and comprehensive match results, researchers should utilize both the BIRLS Death File and the PTF when tracking mortality in the VA.
Conclusions
Several national databases and ascertainment services are available for researchers in search of mortality information. The NDI has demonstrated the highest sensitivity ratings and, currently, is the only database with a cause of death field useful for research purposes. Moreover, the NDI was originally conceived to provide national mortality ascertainment for medical, health services and epidemiological research.
Unlike NDI (Table 1), the databases described were developed to fulfill primarily
Acknowledgements
This article represents the personal opinions of the authors. No official support or endorsement by the Department of Veterans Affairs is intended or should be inferred. The authors also wish to thank Carol Ashton, Edward Boyko, and Gayle Reiber for reviewing earlier drafts of this article. Special thanks are given to Stephanie Webber, Saidy Waight, and April Kopp for their assistance in collecting reference materials for the review, and to Robert Bilgrad, NDI, for additional information
References (16)
National Death Index User's Manual
(1990)History and Organization of the Vital Statistics System
(1997)Obtaining State Death Certificates
(1992)- et al.
Test of the National Death Index
Am J Epidemiol.
(1984) - et al.
Mortality ascertainment in the veteran populationAlternatives to the National Death Index
Am J Epidemiol.
(1995) - et al.
National sources of vital status informationExtent of coverage and possible selectivity in reporting
Am J Epidemiol.
(1990) - et al.
Ascertainment of vital status through the National Death Index and the Social Security Administration
Am J Epidemiol.
(1985) - et al.
The accuracy of the National Death Index when personal identifiers other than Social Security Number are used
Am J Public Health.
(1992)
Cited by (433)
Development, validation, and transportability of several machine-learned, non-exercise-based VO<inf>2max</inf> prediction models for older adults
2024, Journal of Sport and Health ScienceMortality of Women Vietnam War–Era Veterans
2023, Women's Health IssuesEvaluation of California Non-Comprehensive Death File Against National Death Index
2022, Dialogues in HealthSuicide death over the first year of lithium versus valproate treatment in cohorts with and without bipolar disorder
2022, Journal of Psychiatric Research