Edlavitch S A, Baxter J
Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Minneapolis 55455.
Am J Epidemiol. 1988 Jun;127(6):1164-78. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114910.
Prior to 1979, epidemiologic studies which included mortality follow-up on large cohorts relied on death certificates from last state of residence and expensive follow-up techniques to determine survival. Beginning with 1979, the National Death Index can be used to search death certificate files from all 50 states, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. This paper addresses the issue of whether mortality follow-up in epidemiologic studies based on a single state death certificate search using only data available in 1970-1975 can be compared with post-1979 mortality follow-up using the National Death Index. This question was addressed by following a cohort of 2,925 coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease 1980 hospital discharges from 1980 through 1983 with the use of both the National Death Index and the Minnesota Death Index (MINNDEX). Algorithms for evaluating potential death certificate matches were developed independently for both systems. The systems agreed on the survival status of 98% of the cohort, and both identified 31% as dead. This study supports the comparison of results of National Death Index follow-up to pre-National Death Index studies using algorithms such as the MINNDEX, and provides evidence that trend analyses relying on single state death searches pre-1979 and on the National Death Index from 1979 are valid, particularly in chronically ill persons.
1979年以前，对大型队列进行死亡率随访的流行病学研究依赖于来自最后居住地的死亡证明以及昂贵的随访技术来确定生存情况。从1979年开始，国家死亡索引可用于搜索来自美国50个州、维尔京群岛和波多黎各的死亡证明文件。本文探讨了在流行病学研究中，仅使用1970 - 1975年可用数据基于单个州死亡证明搜索进行的死亡率随访，是否能与使用国家死亡索引进行的1979年后死亡率随访相比较的问题。通过使用国家死亡索引和明尼苏达死亡索引（MINNDEX）对1980年至1983年期间2925例冠心病和脑血管疾病患者1980年的出院病例进行队列随访，解决了这个问题。针对这两个系统分别独立开发了评估潜在死亡证明匹配的算法。两个系统对98%的队列生存状态达成一致，且都确定31%的人已死亡。本研究支持使用诸如MINNDEX等算法，将国家死亡索引随访结果与国家死亡索引之前的研究结果进行比较，并提供证据表明，基于1979年前单个州死亡搜索以及1979年以来国家死亡索引的趋势分析是有效的，尤其是在慢性病患者中。
