Accuracy of death certificate diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to determine the reliability of official mortality statistics in estimating long term trends of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Italy.


METHODS
The study was a mortality follow up of cases of ALS.


METHODS
Piedmond Region, northern Italy.


METHODS
Cases of ALS were identified from multiple sources between 1966 and 1985.


RESULTS
Cause of death was determined for the cases who died between 1970 and 1985. Death certificates were obtained in 488 out of 510 cases (95.7%). ALS was mentioned in 365 (74.8%) of cases. The most frequent erroneous diagnoses were multiple sclerosis and malignant tumours. Demographic variables, such as sex, age at death, province of death, and calendar year of death, did not influence the percentage of true positive cases significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
The death certificate diagnosis of ALS appears to be adequate for use in descriptive and analytical epidemiology.
Chiò
A
A
II Department of Neurology, University of Turin, Ospedale Molinette, Torino, Italy.
Magnani
C
C
Oddenino
E
E
Tolardo
G
G
Schiffer
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends