title: [Procedures of vital status obtention in a cohort born in France].
abstract: To know if included patients in a study are alive or dead is essential. In practice, the knowledge of vital status is a pre-requisite to the collection of the medical cause of death in epidemiology. In clinical research all investigators, particularly those in cancerology, must recuperate this information for all patients lost to follow-up. There are two methods to obtain the vital status of a subject: to have access to the civil status register of the local town hall where the subject was born, or to contact the "Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques" (INSEE). We describe each of these procedures: ways to put them into practice, their efficacy and problems encountered. To write to town halls is a simple efficient method and is advised when the number of sujects is small, but this procedure poses a problem of confidentiality. The examination of the tapes of registered deaths from INSEE is recommended for many querries concerning a lot of subjects.
authors.affiliation: Département de biostatistique et d'épidémiologie, institut Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Laplanche
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Benhamou
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D003219:Confidentiality; D003644:Death Certificates; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D012042:Registries; D014798:Vital Statistics
vernacular_title: Procédures d'obtention du statut vital des sujets d'une cohorte nés en France.