Br Med J. 1978 Oct 14;2(6144):1063-5. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6144.1063.
The cause of death shown on 191 death certificates was compared with the cause indicated by the hospital case notes, the consultants' opinions, and the necropsy findings. All 191 deaths occurred among medical hospital patients aged under 50. In 39 cases there was a major discrepancy between the two sources over the cause of death and in another 54 ther was a minor but epidemiologically important difference. Death certificates are not primarily intended for epidemiological research, but researchers often rely on them. This and other studies have shown, however, that death certificates are often inaccurate records of the cause of death--even coroner's certificates issued after a coroner's necropsy. The accuracy of death certificates might be improved if coroners consulted clinicians more closely and if senior hospital staff completed hospital death certificates.
将191份死亡证明上显示的死因与医院病历记录、会诊医生意见以及尸检结果所表明的死因进行了比较。所有191例死亡均发生在50岁以下的内科住院患者中。在39例病例中，两种来源关于死因的认定存在重大差异，另有54例存在轻微但在流行病学上具有重要意义的差异。死亡证明的主要用途并非用于流行病学研究，但研究人员却常常依赖它们。然而，这项研究以及其他研究表明，死亡证明往往是死因的不准确记录——即便经过验尸官尸检后出具的验尸官证明亦是如此。如果验尸官与临床医生更密切地沟通，并且医院高级工作人员填写医院死亡证明，死亡证明的准确性或许会得到提高。
