Vital Statistics Summary of a Workshop (2009) / Chapter Skim
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4 Methodological Issues and the 2003 Revision of Standard Instruments
4 Methodological Issues and the 2003 Revision of Standard Instruments
Pages 49-64
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From page 49... ...
However, for a variety of reasons, the vital registration areas have been slow to adopt the new form of the certificates, leading to significant methodological challenges in recent years. The patchwork of adopting and nonadopting registration areas has forced attention to how data on race can and should be tabulated in vital statistics and used in such important applications as population estimates; the uneven implementation of other new demographic and health data items on the standard 49
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From page 50... ...
Three workshop presenters from the NCHS staff and one Census Bureau speaker commented on the methodological changes inherent in the 2003 revision and the types of analyses made possible by new variables added in the revision. Specifically, the presentations focused on the complications involved in working with the data in the current situation in which implementation of the revised certificate is uneven and, hence, states report information in varying formats.
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From page 51... ...
– Tobacco use and contribution to death • Modified items – Decedent's race, for compliance with OMB standards – Decedent's education, to record highest degree attained – Decedent's marital status, to distinguish "married" category from "married, but separated" – Place of death, to include hospice facility • Related documentation – Revision of funeral director's handbook for completing death certificate – Revision of physicians' and medical examiner/coroners' handbooks to focus on accurate collection of cause-of-death information – Detailed specifications and instructions for every element in the electronic birth certificate system – Certificate includes separate instructions specifically for funeral director and for person completing medical certification portion SOURCES: Workshop presentations summarized in this chapter; Division of Vital Statistics (2002a,b)
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From page 52... ...
added that six registration areas are planning on implementing the revised death certificate in 2009 and another seven in 2010. 4–B RACE AND ETHNICITY Weed noted that, at the time of the 1997 establishment of OMB's revised standard for race and Hispanic origin questions, agencies were required to implement the new standards by January 1, 2003 (with some allowance for a "bridging" period between single-race and multiple-race reporting -- discussed further, below)
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From page 53... ...
State Births Deaths Births Deaths State Births Deaths Births Deaths Alabama Montana Alaska Nebraska Arizona Nevada METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES Arkansas New Hampshire California New Jersey Colorado New Mexico Connecticut New York Delaware North Carolina District of Columbia North Dakota Florida Ohio Georgia Oklahoma Hawaii Oregon Idaho Pennsylvania Illinois Rhode Island Indiana South Carolina Iowa South Dakota Kansas Tennessee Kentucky Texas Louisiana Utah Maine Vermont Maryland Virginia Massachusetts Washington Michigan West Virginia Minnesota Wisconsin Mississippi Wyoming Missouri Total 12 17 17 21 NOTES: , Yes; , No; , Partial (for only part of data year 2005 or only for selected facilities)
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From page 54... ...
. The certificate revisions followed the same category breakdowns as the 2000 census questionnaire for the Hispanic origin question but differed slightly from the census instrument by more detailed splitting of the Asian and Pacific Islander categories (the census permitted only one space to write in either an "Other Asian" or "Other Pacific Islander" affiliation)
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From page 55... ...
or with the Census Bureau's intercensal population estimates. Relatively little is yet known about the characteristics of persons who report multiple race categories in comparison with those who report a single race, the internal cognitive weightings that may go into such determinations (e.g., consistent reporting of American Indian or Native Hawaiian ancestry)
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From page 56... ...
Velkoff acknowledged that the need to bridge from the "old" race categories in vital statistics records to new categories complicates the estimation process. Velkoff indicated that most of the birth data that the Census Bureau receives directly from the states do not use the current race categories.
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From page 57... ...
For its adjustment to the base population in constructing estimates, Velkoff indicated that the Census Bureau is also still grappling with another feature of race reporting in the 2000 census. The 2000 census questionnaire permitted respondents to choose multiple options from the five race categories defined in the 1997 OMB standards but also included a sixth option, "some other race." For its population estimates, Velkoff said that the Census Bureau distributes the "some other race" responses into the standard categories -- a second level of bridging -- so that the estimates do not include tabulations for "some other race."3 The problem of working with varying race categories has been more acute in the area of population projections because, historically, the projections have used a coarser categorization.
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From page 58... ...
The fetal death report contains additional questions on the cause and condition of the death, demographic and health information on the mother, record of previous prenatal care, and risk factors involved in the pregnancy. The Report of Fetal Death is periodically revised in the same manner as the Standard Certificates of Birth and Death; as shown in Box 4-1, the standard record was revised in 2003 to expand collection of cause-of-death data and include additional questions also added to the standard birth certificate.
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From page 59... ...
Ventura summarized findings from recent NCHS reports that use the new additional information included on both the birth certificate and record of fetal death. In addition to restriction to the 12-state subset, Ventura discussed what NCHS terms "releasable" data -- new checkbox items in existing data items that are already part of the national data set and that the states have authorized NCHS to release.
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From page 60... ...
Figure 4-3 Steroids for fetal lung maturation received by the mother prior to delivery, by gestational age and race and Hispanic origin, 12-state reporting area, 2005 SOURCE: Menacker and Martin (2008:Fig.
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From page 61... ...
4–D MORTALITY AND CAUSES OF DEATH Robert Anderson (chief, Mortality Statistics Branch, NCHS) commented on the major methodological issues faced by NCHS with regard to the mortality data, in particular the handling of cause-of-death data.
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From page 62... ...
Anderson also said that states are experiencing some problems in getting physicians to accept the concept of electronic certification, which is obviously an important part of a fully fledged electronic death registration system. Regarding the new data items added in the 2003 certificate revision, Anderson noted that the change in the education variable -- from years of education to highest degree attained -- has been somewhat problematic.
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From page 63... ...
This phenomenon is thought to produce underreporting of Hispanic ethnicity and American Indian and Asian and Pacific Islander races; Anderson also said that it may be responsible for overreporting of high school completion. Anderson said that NCHS is hoping to conduct a national longitudinal mortality study, linking death certificate information with the Current Population Survey or other source, to try to better assess the difference between self-report and proxy-report items on death certificates.
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