Mortality by Occupation, Industry, and Cause of Death: 24 Reporting States (1984-1988)
 

DHHS (NIOSH) PUBLICATION
NO. 97-114 JUNE 1997

Methods
 

The United States Standard Certificate of Death requests information on the usual occupation and kind of business or industry for each decedent. Beginning in 1983, an increasing number of State health departments have coded this information using standardized coding procedures. Twenty-four State health departments included the data in the coded death certificate data provided to NCHS for 1 or more years from 1984 through 1988. See Table A-1 in Appendix A for States and years included.

The information on occupation and industry was coded according to the 1980 Bureau of the Census classification.21 The occupation and industry categories included in the report are described in Lists A-1 and A-2 in Appendix A. The underlying cause of death was coded according to the Ninth Revision, International Classification of Diseases.22 The analysis included 185 selected causes of death for males and 188 selected causes for females (List A-3 in Appendix A).

The analysis includes deaths that occurred in the 24-State reporting area to residents of one of the 24 States. The criteria for inclusion in the analysis differed for males and females. For males, all white and black decedents aged 20 and older were included. For females, decedents reported in the occupation category of Housewives, homemakers were not included in either the occupation or industry analysis. Therefore, all white and black female decedents aged 20 and older with an occupation code other than Housewives, homemakers were included.

The measure of association used in this report is the proportionate mortality ratio (PMR). Age-standardized PMRs for the four race-sex groups were calculated using a computer program developed at NIOSH.23 For a specific race-sex group, the program calculates PMRs by comparing the proportion of deaths from a specific cause within a specific occupation or industry group with the proportion of deaths for that cause for all occupations or industries. Age stratification was done by 5-year age groups. The program provides 95% confidence limits for the PMRs.

See Appendix A for a description of the computation of the PMRs and the confidence limits.

Return to the Table of Contents
Go to the Results and Discussion
CDC Home page
NIOSH Home page
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Delivering on the Nation's Promise: Safety and Health at Work for all People...
Through Research and Prevention