title: Ethnic mortality differentials in Lithuania: contradictory evidence from census-linked and unlinked mortality estimates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examines discrepancies between census and death registry information in the reporting of the ethnicity of the deceased in Lithuania and shows how these reporting differences influence estimates of mortality inequality by ethnicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study uses a census-linked dataset provided by Statistics Lithuania. The data include all deaths and population exposures between 1 July 2001 and 31 December 2004. The information on the ethnicity of the deceased was available from both the census and the death records. The Poisson regression was applied (1) to measure the effects of socio-demographic variables on the misreporting of ethnicity on death records and (2) to estimate mortality rate ratios by ethnicity based on census-linked and unlinked data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The death-record-based information on ethnicity under-reports the deaths of people of Russian, Polish and other ethnicities and over-reports the deaths of people of Lithuanian ethnicity. This leads both to the underestimation of mortality in the three ethnic minority groups and to biased mortality rate ratios. The misreporting is higher in death records for women, persons younger than 80 years, divorced persons, urban residents and those dying from ill-defined causes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Studies based on unlinked data may provide biased estimates of ethnic mortality differences.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Demographic Data, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany. jasilionis@demogr.mpg.de
authors.forename: Domantas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jasilionis
authors.forename: Vlada
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stankuniene
authors.forename: Dalia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ambrozaitiene
authors.forename: Dmitri A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Jdanov
authors.forename: Vladimir M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Shkolnikov
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D019352:Censuses; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008097:Lithuania / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000639:trends; D016012:Poisson Distribution