Utility of Death Certificate Data in Predicting Cancer Incidence

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bedford RL
• Description:
  Retrospective cohort mortality studies rely heavily on information provided by the National Center for Health Statistics' (NCHS) National Death Index (NDI) for mortality ascertainment activities. Since the NDI's computerized index of death records with codes identifying cause of death (COD), NDI Plus, only includes records dating back to 1979, ascertainment of accurate COD data before that date is much more problematic in retrospective cohort mortality studies that include a sizable worker population predating the NDI. In order to assess COD in workers prior to the NDI, both the collection and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding of death certificates (DCs) is required for each decedent. Occupationally-related cancer epidemiology also relies on mortality reporting; however, cancer incidence information provides a more complete picture of the overall disease burden. Rather than merely identifying what may have caused a subject's death, incidence data describe what cancers may have been affecting that worker at the time. This additional information allows a more complete assessment of potential workplace hazards and their effects on workers. In the U.S., the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) collect information about cancer occurrence and mortality for the entire population. Unfortunately, many of these registries have only recently been established or fully supported (National Program of Cancer Registries [NPCR], 2008) The overall objective of this research is to assess the ability of DCs to reflect cancer incidence within a population of decedents. We hypothesize that information provided by DCs will under-report cancer incidence identified by the Iowa Cancer Registry (ICR) from its inception on January 01, 1973 through December 31, 2005. We also hypothesize that the ability of the DC to reflect cancer occurrence is directly related to the survival time after cancer diagnosis. A third hypothesis is that factors such as age at diagnosis, ICD revision in use at time of death, diagnosis era, race, and gender may be related to the reporting of cancer occurrence on DCs. A greater understanding of how well cancer incidence can be predicted from DCs is a priority need in the current Department of Defense (DoD) funded Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP) Munitions Workers Study, as well as other retrospective studies whose workers are located in areas that have only recently been covered by population-based cancer registries. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cancer Rates Death Certificates Medical Records Mortality Data Mortality Studies Occupational Cancers
• ISBN:
  9781109582130
• Publisher:
  ProQuest LLC.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Thesis
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056865
• Citation:
  Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest LLC., 2009 Dec; :1473689
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Utility of death certificate data in predicting cancer incidence
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a43c926db847b31f5fa3277f0cc9c3a17180178832e7b2a42317d1158993924458364eacb6316f2fc7d6b328ca037c8b68ec37bca1e24923c8653495e5af1467
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214363/cdc_214363_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 194.62 KB ]