Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1992 Oct;46(5):517–518. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.5.517

Accuracy of death certificate diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

A Chiò 1, C Magnani 1, E Oddenino 1, G Tolardo 1, D Schiffer 1
PMCID: PMC1059643  PMID: 1479322

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to determine the reliability of official mortality statistics in estimating long term trends of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Italy. DESIGN--The study was a mortality follow up of cases of ALS. SETTING--Piedmond Region, northern Italy. SUBJECTS--Cases of ALS were identified from multiple sources between 1966 and 1985. MAIN RESULTS--Cause of death was determined for the cases who died between 1970 and 1985. Death certificates were obtained in 488 out of 510 cases (95.7%). ALS was mentioned in 365 (74.8%) of cases. The most frequent erroneous diagnoses were multiple sclerosis and malignant tumours. Demographic variables, such as sex, age at death, province of death, and calendar year of death, did not influence the percentage of true positive cases significantly. CONCLUSIONS--The death certificate diagnosis of ALS appears to be adequate for use in descriptive and analytical epidemiology.

Full text

PDF
517

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Buckley J., Warlow C., Smith P., Hilton-Jones D., Irvine S., Tew J. R. Motor neuron disease in England and Wales, 1959-1979. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1983 Mar;46(3):197–205. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.46.3.197. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Durrleman S., Alperovitch A. Increasing trend of ALS in France and elsewhere: are the changes real? Neurology. 1989 Jun;39(6):768–773. doi: 10.1212/wnl.39.6.768. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gunnarsson L. G., Lindberg G., Söderfelt B., Axelson O. The mortality of motor neuron disease in Sweden. Arch Neurol. 1990 Jan;47(1):42–46. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1990.00530010050018. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hoffman P. M., Brody J. A. The reliability of death certificate reporting for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Chronic Dis. 1971 Jun;24(1):5–8. doi: 10.1016/0021-9681(71)90053-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Jokelainen M. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Finland. I: An epidemiologic study. Acta Neurol Scand. 1977 Sep;56(3):185–193. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1977.tb01424.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kondo K., Tsubaki T. Changing mortality patterns of motor neuron disease in Japan. J Neurol Sci. 1977 Jul;32(3):411–424. doi: 10.1016/0022-510x(77)90023-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lilienfeld D. E., Chan E., Ehland J., Godbold J., Landrigan P. J., Marsh G., Perl D. P. Rising mortality from motoneuron disease in the USA, 1962-84. Lancet. 1989 Apr 1;1(8640):710–713. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)92218-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mortara P., Chiò A., Rosso M. G., Leone M., Schiffer D. Motor neuron disease in the province of Turin, Italy, 1966-1980. Survival analysis in an unselected population. J Neurol Sci. 1984 Nov-Dec;66(2-3):165–173. doi: 10.1016/0022-510x(84)90004-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. O'Malley F., Dean G., Elian M. Multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease: survival and how certified after death. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1987 Mar;41(1):14–17. doi: 10.1136/jech.41.1.14. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES