Goodman R A, Manton K G, Nolan T F, Bregman D J, Hinman A R
JAMA. 1982 Feb 12;247(6):793-6.
Death certificates are the primary source for information used to define general mortality patterns in the United States. Analyses of mortality data generally are restricted to one of the conditions listed on the certificate--the underlying cause of dealth. We review principles related to the use of mortality data and describe a study using mortality tapes ("multiple-cause tapes") that list all conditions recorded on dealth certificates. Using multiple-cause tapes, we found that the number of deaths associated with seven infectious diseases in 1968, 1969, and 1970 was from 24% (diphtheria) to 81% (rubella) greater than that officially reported. Multiple-cause tapes also permitted a review of the association of deaths attributed to measles and varicella and known complications of these diseases. these observations confirm the usefulness of multiple-cause tapes in analyzing mortality data and emphasize the importance of examining all conditions listed on the death certificate.
死亡证明是用于确定美国总体死亡率模式的主要信息来源。死亡率数据的分析通常仅限于证明上列出的一种情况——根本死因。我们回顾了与死亡率数据使用相关的原则，并描述了一项使用死亡率磁带（“多死因磁带”）的研究，这些磁带列出了死亡证明上记录的所有情况。使用多死因磁带，我们发现1968年、1969年和1970年与七种传染病相关的死亡人数比官方报告的多24%（白喉）至81%（风疹）。多死因磁带还允许对归因于麻疹和水痘以及这些疾病已知并发症的死亡关联进行审查。这些观察结果证实了多死因磁带在分析死亡率数据方面的有用性，并强调了检查死亡证明上列出的所有情况的重要性。
