title: Validity of education information on the death certificate.
abstract: We compared education as recorded on the death certificate with education ascertained before death from a household survey of 10,423 persons age 25 years or more who died in 1989. There was a tendency for the decedent's education to be reported at a higher level on the death certificate than at baseline. Of those who were reported as high school graduates on the death certificate, 38% reported that they had less than a high school education at baseline. The bias was more pronounced in older than younger decedents.
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Sorlie
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003625:Data Collection; D003644:Death Certificates; D004493:Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity