About The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance
About NOMS
NOMS data are used to monitor changes in cause of death by usual occupation or industry over time. When repeated at intervals, this is known as occupational mortality surveillance and can identify new associations and opportunities for research and prevention activities. NOMS data can be used to conduct occupational mortality surveillance by calculating proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs). PMRs indicate whether the proportion of deaths due to a specific cause appears to be high or low for a particular occupation, compared to all other occupations, or a particular industry compared to all other industries.
NOMS includes two datasets:
- The first dataset includes records for almost 10 million deaths that occurred in 26 U.S. states during the years 1985–1998.
- A second dataset includes records for over 5.8 million deaths that occurred in 26 U.S. states in the years 1999, 2003–2004, 2007–2014.
NOMS began with a collaboration between NIOSH, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and state vital statistics offices working together to provide resources and code Industry and Occupation narratives on death certificates, and analyze the data produced. Although NCI is no longer involved, NIOSH’s collaboration with NCHS and state vital statistics offices is still strong. In addition, for the last several years the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSISexternal icon), the national nonprofit organization representing the state vital records and public health statistics offices in the United States, has been supportive of our efforts to collect and code Industry and Occupation included in death certificates.
The following state vital statistics offices have contributed one or more years of data to the NOMS Surveillance System during one or both NOMS data collection periods:
| State1 | 1985–1998 | 1999–2014 |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | x | |
| California | x | |
| Colorado | x | |
| Florida | x | x |
| Georgia | x | x |
| Hawaii | x | x |
| Idaho | x | |
| Illinois | x | |
| Indiana | x | x |
| Kansas | x | x |
| Kentucky | x | |
| Louisiana | x | |
| Michigan | x | x |
| Missouri | x | |
| Mississippi | x | |
| Montana | x | |
| North Carolina | x | x |
| North Dakota | x | |
| Nebraska | x | x |
| New Hampshire | x | x |
| New Jersey | x | x |
| New Mexico | x | |
| Nevada | x | x |
| New York | x | |
| Ohio | x | x |
| Oklahoma | x | |
| Oregon | x | |
| Rhode Island | x | |
| South Carolina | x | x |
| South Dakota | x | |
| Texas | x | x |
| Utah | x | x |
| Vermont | x | x |
| Washington | x | |
| Wisconsin | x | |
| West Virginia | x |
[1] Data were provided by these state Vital Records Offices:
- Alaska Division of Public Health, Health Analytics & Vital Records Section
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Vital Records Section
- Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics
- Georgia Department of Public Health, State Office of Vital Records
- Hawaii Department of Health, Office of Health Status Monitoring
- Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics
- Indiana State Department of Health Division of Vital Records
- Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Office of Vital Statistics
- Kentucky Department for Public Health, Office of Vital Statistics
- Louisiana Department of Health, Office of the State Registrar
- Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control & Prevention, Division Of Public Health Systems
- Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics
- Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Bureau of Vital Records
- Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services, Division of Public Health, Office of Vital Records
- Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Office of Vital Statistics
- New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary of State, Division of Vital Records Administration
- New Jersey Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry
- New Mexico Department of Health, Epidemiology & Response Division, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics
- North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health
- North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Vital Records
- Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics
- Oklahoma State Department of Health, Center For Health Statistics, Division of Vital Records
- Rhode Island Department of Health, Office of Vital Records
- South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services, Division of Vital Records
- Tennessee Department of Health, Office of Vital Records
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Statistics Unit
- Utah Department of Health, Center for Health Data and Informatics, Office of Vital Records and Statistics
- Vermont Department of Health, Health Surveillance Division
- Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics
- West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Public Health, Vital Registration Office
- Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health, Office of Health Informatics
More information about NOMS data collection, statistical analysis, databases, and industry and occupation coding is on the Methods page.
Epidemiologists and other public health scientists have used NOMS occupational mortality surveillance data to profile cause-specific mortality by industry and occupation. A list of these reports may be found on the Publications page. A suggested citation is provided for citing NOMS data.
NOMS data may not be released due to data agreements with the U.S. states and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), though NOMS data analysis can be done using the Proportionate Mortality Ratio (PMR) Query System.