@article{ref1,
title="Factors associated with reporting multiple causes of death",
journal="BMC medical research methodology",
year="2005",
author="Wall, Melanie M. and Huang, Jing and Oswald, John and McCullen, Diane",
volume="5",
number="1",
pages="4-4",
abstract="BACKGROUND: There is analytical potential for multiple cause of death data collected from death certificates. This study examines relationships of multiple causes of death as a function of factors available on the death certificate (demographics of decedent, place of death, type of certifier, disposal method, whether an autopsy was performed, and year of death). METHODS: Data from 326,332 Minnesota death certificates from 1990-1998 are examined. Underlying and non-underlying causes of death are examined (based on record axis codes) as well as demographic and death-related covariates. Associations between covariates and prevalence of multiple causes of death and conditional probability of underlying compared to non-underlying causes of death are examined. The occurrence of ischemic heart disease or diabetes as underlying causes are specifically examined. RESULTS: Both the probability of multiple causes of death and the proportion of underlying cause compared to non-underlying cause of death are associated with demographic characteristics of the deceased and other non-medical conditions related to filing death certificate such as place of death. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple cause of death data provide a potentially useful way of looking for inaccuracies in reporting of causes of death. Differences across demographics in the proportion of time a cause is selected as underlying compared to non-underlying exist and can potentially provide useful information about the overall impact of causes of death in different populations.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1471-2288",
doi="10.1186/1471-2288-5-4",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-5-4"
}