title: The Social Security Administration's Death Master File: the completeness of death reporting at older ages.
abstract: We examine the completeness of death reporting in the Social Security Administration's Death Master File (DMF) through comparison with deaths by year and age group reported in official U.S. vital statistics. For most years since 1973, results suggest that the DMF includes 93 percent to 96 percent of deaths of individuals aged 65 or older. Although studies have shown that the National Center for Health Statistics' National Death Index provides superior coverage of deaths, for many researchers the DMF may be a desirable choice. Some advantages of the Death Master File are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosenwaike
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003644:Death Certificates; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012943:Social Security / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology