Death Certificate and Mortality Stats

Question 1

describe part 1 of cause of death section

Answer 1

• sequence of events leading to death, proceeding backwards from final disease or condition resulting in death
• underlying cause (disease or injury that initiated events resulting in death) should be listed last
• WHO reccomends that all countries use underlying cause of death for basic mortality statistics

Question 2

describe the part: immediate cause

Answer 2

• final disease, injury, or complication directly causing death
• NOT mode of dying or terminal event (e.g. cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest)
• cannot be left blank

Question 3

describe the path of how death certificates become published statistics

Answer 3

Question 4

describe calculating the crude death rate

Answer 4

Question 5

describe calculating the cause-specific death rate

Answer 5

Question 6

describe calculating the infant mortality rate

Answer 6

• numerator = number of deaths in children < 1 year during specified period
• denominator = number of live births during same period

Question 7

describe calculating age-specific death rate

Answer 7

• num = number of deaths in specified age group during specified period
• den. = population of that age group

Question 8

name the top 3 causes of death in the US

Answer 8

1. heart disease
2. cancer
3. chronic lower respiratory disease