A Method for Identifying Underlying Causes of Death in Epidemiological Study.

Abstract

To obtain the underlying causes of death in individuals of a cohort (male only), the items of date of birth, date of death and address code at the time of death were linked between the data of resident cards and the death tapes of National Vital Statistics supplied by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. As a result, the persons who have the same information for above mentioned three items between the resident cards and the death tapes accounted for 97.4%. If the persons who had the same information for three items except one item were considered to be identical, they accounted for 99.4%. It would be concluded that underlying cause of death can be obtained by record linkage of death tapes of National Vital Statistics with three informations in residence cards, dates of birth, dates of death and address codes at the time of death, even without names of the individual in the death tapes. The matched rate would be high enough for epidemiological studies.

Mortality After Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans: A 40-Year Follow-up Study of Yusho Patients

“…The underlying causes of death identified in the survey were ascertained by record linkage (i.e., matching the follow-up data with the national vital statistics). This method has been shown to be a reliable and valid manner of tracing a target person (30). Death certificate diagnoses were provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare under special permission from the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan.…”

The Adjustment Effects of Confounding Factors on Radiation Risk Estimates: Findings from A Japanese Epidemiological Study on Low-Dose Radiation Effects (J-EPISODE)

“…The causes of death were obtained for those whose deaths could be ascertained through the RRCs by linking the records with death records approved for use and provided by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, Japan. Indices used for record linkage were date of birth, date of death, sex, and municipality code of residence [1]. The dose records supplied by RADREC to the IRE reported each individual's amount of radiation exposure according to fiscal year.…”

A Risk Comparison between Lifestyle, Socioeconomic Status, and Radiation: A Cohort Study of Cancer Mortality among Japanese Nuclear Workers (J-EPISODE)

“…These records can almost completely ascertain the causes of death because they are based on the national registry. Indices used for record linkage were date of birth, date of death, sex, and municipality code of residence ( Iwasaki et al 2000 ). In the end, we were able to identify the cause of death for 99.5% of the subjects.…”