Effects of misattribution in assigning cause of death on prostate cancer mortality rates

Richard M Hoffman; S Noell Stone; William C Hunt; Charles R Key; Frank D Gilliland

doi:10.1016/S1047-2797(02)00439-8

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Effects of misattribution in assigning cause of death on prostate cancer mortality rates

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Effects of misattribution in assigning cause of death on prostate cancer mortality rates

Richard M Hoffman, S Noell Stone, William C Hunt, Charles R Key and Frank D Gilliland

Annals of epidemiology, Vol.13(6), pp.450-454

07/2003

DOI: 10.1016/S1047-2797(02)00439-8

PMID: 12875804

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Abstract

Estimate the magnitude of misattribution in death certification and to determine whether misattribution could explain temporal trends in New Mexico prostate cancer mortality. Investigators retrospectively reviewed medical records to classify cause of death for men with prostate cancer who died in New Mexico in either 1985 or 1995. The investigator-assigned cause of death, either prostate cancer or another cause, was compared with the New Mexico Bureau of Vital Statistics' (BVS) assignment. Net misattribution was the difference between BVS and investigators in the number of deaths attributed to prostate cancer relative to the number attributed by investigators. Concordance for death certification between BVS and investigators was higher in 1995 (95.8%) than 1985 (85.1%), p <0.01, but net misattribution was higher in 1995 (16.8% vs. 1.9%). During this time, the crude prostate cancer mortality rate in New Mexico increased 33.5%, from 18.5 to 24.7 per 100,000. However, after adjusting for misattribution, mortality increased only 15.9%, from 18.2 to 21.1 per 100,000. Net misattribution in death certification was higher in 1995 than 1985. The adjusted increase in crude mortality rates was substantially less than the observed increase, suggesting that misattribution explained about half of the observed increase.

International Classification of Diseases

Comorbidity

Humans

Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data

Male

Prostatic Neoplasms - ethnology

Prostatic Neoplasms - diagnosis

Death Certificates

Cause of Death

Prostatic Neoplasms - mortality

Hospital Records

Sensitivity and Specificity

Prostatic Neoplasms - classification

Registries

Research Design - standards

New Mexico - epidemiology

Neoplasm Staging

Details

Title: Subtitle: Effects of misattribution in assigning cause of death on prostate cancer mortality rates
Creators: Richard M Hoffman - Department of Medicine, New Mexico VA Health Care System, Albuquerque, NM 87108, USA. rhoffman@unm.edu
S Noell Stone
William C Hunt
Charles R Key
Frank D Gilliland
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Annals of epidemiology, Vol.13(6), pp.450-454
DOI: 10.1016/S1047-2797(02)00439-8
PMID: 12875804
ISSN: 1047-2797
eISSN: 1873-2585
Grant note: N01-CN-75036-20 / NCI NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 07/2003
Academic Unit: Epidemiology; General Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine
Record Identifier: 9984094622302771

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