title: An evaluation of the use of medical examiner data for epidemiologic surveillance.
abstract: To assess the value of medical examiner (ME) data bases for use in epidemiologic surveillance, we compared data from non-injury deaths that became ME cases to all non-injury deaths occurring in 1984 among Fulton County, Georgia residents. The decedents in the ME series were younger and included a large proportion of Black males. Although not representative of all deaths in a community, ME data bases include demographic and medical information that is often difficult to collect in community studies and in other surveillance systems.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003334:Coroners and Medical Examiners; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011996:Records