title: Proportion of death certificates issued by physicians and associated factors in Korea, 1990-2002.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previous studies showed that death certification by physicians was an important predictor to improve the quality of death certificate data in South Korea. This study was conducted to examine the proportion of death certificates issued by physicians and associated factors in South Korea from 1990 to 2002.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 3, 110, 883 death certificates issued between 1990 and 2002, available to the public from the National Statistical Office of Korea, were used to calculate the proportion of death certificates issued by physicians and to examine associated factors with logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall proportion of death certificates issued by physicians increased from 44.6% in 1990 to 77.6% in 2002 (mean: 63.5%). However, the proportion was greatly influenced by the deceased's age. In 2002, more than 90% of the deceased aged 51 or less were certified by physicians. A higher proportion was found among deceased who had tertiary education (college or higher) living in more developed urban areas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The information regarding the cause of death for younger, well-educated deceased in urban areas of South Korea may show a higher level of accuracy. Epidemiologic research using information on causes of death may well benefit from the continually increasing proportion of death certificates issued by physicians in the future in South Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
authors.forename: Min Woo
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Jo
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
authors.forename: Young Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Khang
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
authors.forename: Sungcheol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
authors.forename: Jin Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
authors.forename: Moo Song
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea. jominwoo@amc.seoul.kr.
authors.forename: Sang Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Death certificates; Death registration; South Korea