2010 May 151 Number 2,ies Ser

Education Reporting and

Classification on Death

Certificates in the

United States
Copyright information

All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be

reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is

appreciated.

Suggested citation

Rostron BL, Boies JL, Arias E. Education reporting and classification on death

certificates in the United States. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital

Health Stat 2(151). 2010.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Education reporting and classification on death certificates in the United States.

p. ; cm.— (DHHS publication ; no. (PHS) 2010–1351) (Vital and health

statistics. Series 2, Data evaluation and methods research ; no. 151)

‘‘May 2010.’’

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978–0-8406–0639-6

ISBN-10: 0–8406-0639–7

1. Mortality—United States—Statistics. 2. Life expectancy—United States—

Statistics. 3. Education—United States—Statistics. 4. United States—Statistics,

Vital. I. National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.) II. Series: DHHS publication ;

no. (PHS) 2010–1351. III. Series: Vital and health statistics. Series 2, Data

evaluation and methods research ; 151.

[DNLM: 1. Death Certificates—United States—Statistics. 2. Educational

Status—United States—Statistics. 3. Health Status Disparities—United

States—Statistics. 4. Life Expectancy—United States—Statistics. W2 A N148vb

no.151 2010]

HB1321.E38 2010

304.6’40973021—dc22

2010016048

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office

Superintendent of Documents

Mail Stop: SSOP

Washington, DC 20402-9328

Printed on acid-free paper.
National Center for Health Statistics

Edward J. Sondik, Ph.D., Director

Jennifer H. Madans, Ph.D., Associate Director for Science

Division of Vital Statistics

Charles J. Rothwell, M.S., Director
Series 2, Number 151

Education Reporting and

Classification on Death

Certificates in the

United States

Data Evaluation and Methods Research

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics

Hyattsville, Maryland

May 2010

DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 2010–1351
Contents
 

Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 
 

Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 
 

Background ............................................................................................. 1 
 

Data and Methods .......................................................................................... 2 
 

Evaluation of Education Reporting on Death Certificates......................................................... 2 
 

Effect of Death Certificate Education Reporting on Mortality Measures............................................. 4 
 

Results ................................................................................................... 6 
 

Evaluation of Education Reporting on Death Certificates......................................................... 6 
 

Effect of Death Certificate Education Reporting on Mortality Measures............................................. 6 
 

Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................... 7 
 

References ................................................................................................ 8 
 

Appendix ................................................................................................ 14 
 

Technical Notes ......................................................................................... 14 
 

Figures

1.	 Adjusted and unadjusted life expectancy for males at age 25, by educational attainment: United States, 2005.......... 7 
 

2.	 Adjusted and unadjusted life expectancy for females at age 25, by educational attainment: United States, 2005 ........ 7 
 

Detailed Tables

1.	 Education reporting on the death certificate, by state, 1992–1998 ............................................ 10 
 

2.	 Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level: National Longitudinal
 

Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts .......................................................... 10 
 

3.	 Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and sex: National
 

Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts ............................................... 11 
 

4.	 Classification ratios of Current Population Survey deaths to death certificate deaths, by education level and sex:
 

National Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts........................................ 11 
 

5.	 Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and age at death:
 

National Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts........................................ 12 
 

6.	 Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and race: National
 

Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts ............................................... 12 
 

7.	 Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and Hispanic origin:
 

National Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts........................................ 13 
 

8.	 Life expectancy, by educational attainment for selected ages: U.S. males, 2005 ................................. 13 
 

9.	 Life expectancy, by educational attainment for selected ages: U.S. females, 2005 ............................... 13 
 

Appendix Table

Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level: National Longitudinal
 

Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts .......................................................... 14 
 

iii
Objectives

This report analyzes education

reporting and classification on the death

certificate and their effect on estimates

of mortality and life expectancy by

education level in the United States.

Methods

The National Longitudinal Mortality

Study (NLMS) was used to analyze

education information on the death

certificate for participants in the Current

Population Survey (CPS) from 1992

through 1998 who died by the end of

1998. Educational attainment reported

on the death certificate for these

persons was compared to their

educational attainment reported in the

CPS. NLMS was also used to calculate

classification ratios consisting of the

number of deaths by education level in

the CPS compared to the number of

deaths by education level on the death

certificate. These classification ratios

were then used to produce estimates of

life expectancy by education level for

the United States in 2005, adjusted for

probable education misreporting on the

death certificate.

Results

Comparison of educational

attainment from the death certificate

and CPS shows differences due to the

different classification systems used in

the two sources and probable

misreporting on the death certificate.

The difference is most pronounced

regarding graduation from high school.

Black and Hispanic persons at the high

school graduate level appear to be

more likely than other racial or ethnic

groups to have their educational

attainment underreported on the death

certificate as less than 4 years of high

school completed. Adjusted estimates

for the U.S. population show a large

disparity in life expectancy by education

level, on the order of 10–12 years for

females and 11–16 years for males.

Keywords: mortality c life

expectancy c health disparities c

socioeconomic status

Education Reporting and

Classification on Death

Certificates in the United States

by Brian L. Rostron, Ph.D.; John L. Boies, Ph.D.; and Elizabeth

Arias, Ph.D.

Introduction

Disparities in mortality and life

expectancy by educational attainment in

the United States have attracted

considerable attention from researchers

and government agencies in recent

decades (1). Accurate estimates of these

differences for the U.S. population have

been difficult to obtain because death

counts and population counts, which

provide the numerators and

denominators for mortality rates, come

from different sources and the

information in these sources may be

inaccurate or use different classification

systems. Death counts by education

level come from information on the

death certificate, but death certificate

education information is often

inaccurate. Errors in education reporting

on the death certificate usually occur

when information is reported by a

funeral director who may not have

accurate information about the education

of the deceased. Population counts by

education level, on the other hand, come

from information reported by persons in

the census or social surveys about their

own education or the education of

fellow household members, and this

information is considered to be

generally accurate. Estimation of

mortality measures is made even more

difficult because different classification

systems, typically categorizing

educational attainment by year of

education completed or degree

completed, can be used on the death

certificate and in social surveys and the

categories in one system may not

correspond exactly to categories in other

systems.

This report analyzes education

reporting on the death certificate by

comparing educational attainment as

reported on the death certificate and in

the Current Population Survey (CPS).

Data come from CPS participants from

1992 through 1998 who were included

in the National Longitudinal Mortality

Study (NLMS) and who died by the end

of 1998. Results are presented for the

total population and for selected racial

or ethnic groups, including Asian or

Pacific Islander and Hispanic persons,

for whom this information has not been

produced previously (2).

This report also uses NLMS data to

calculate classification ratios that

compare educational attainment reported

in the CPS with educational attainment

reported on the death certificate. These

ratios are then used to produce adjusted

estimates of mortality rates and life

expectancy for the U.S. population that

measure mortality differences by

education level more accurately than

unadjusted estimates. These

classification ratios also allow for the

estimation of mortality measures for

more specific education levels, such as

college graduate, than was possible in

previous studies.

Background

Previous studies of education

reporting on death certificates

in the United States

Differences in mortality by

educational attainment in the United

States have been an important research

topic for several decades. In 1973,

Page 1
Page 2 [ Series 2, No. 151

Kitagawa and Hauser published a

landmark cross-sectional study of

mortality differentials by measures of

socioeconomic status including

education in the United States (3). They

found substantive differences in

mortality by education level for both

white men and women, with persons

with less education generally having

higher levels of mortality. Researchers

subsequently reached this same general

conclusion using longitudinal data from

sources such as NLMS (4–6), and found

that mortality differentials by

educational attainment decreased but

still existed when controls for other

socioeconomic factors such as income,

employment, and marital status were

included in the analyses (5,6).

Researchers also found that mortality

differentials by educational attainment

vary by sex, race, or ethnicity in the

United States, with differences being

greater for men than women and for

African-American persons than white

persons (7). Studies using U.S. vital

statistics data have typically estimated

mortality differentials for two or three

broad education levels because of

concerns about the accuracy of death

certificate education information for

more specific levels (1,8,9). Some

studies using vital statistics data have

also restricted analysis to ages 25–64

because of concerns about the accuracy

of death certificate education

information for persons who died at

older ages (9).

Because the death certificate is an

important source of information about

the relationship between education and

mortality, researchers have also

examined the accuracy of education

information on death certificates. Sorlie

and Johnson compared death certificate

education information for over 10,000

persons in the NLMS who died in 1989

to their education information in the

CPS (2). They found that educational

attainment tended to be overreported on

the death certificate compared with

survey data. In particular, those who

were identified as having not completed

4 years of high school in the CPS were

often reported as having completed 4

years of high school on the death

certificate. Two smaller studies found

similar results. Shai and Rosenwaike

showed that educational attainment was

often overreported on the death

certificate for older men, based on

comparison of death certificate

information from New York and Utah

from 1982 through 1986 with

information reported in the American

Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study

II (CPS–II) (10). Makuc, Feldman, and

Mussolino also concluded that

educational attainment tended to be

overreported on the death certificate, in

their study of 800 participants in the

first National Health and Nutrition

Examination Survey (NHANES I) who

died during the years 1989–1993 (11).

This report expands upon previous

research on education reporting on the

death certificate by analyzing deaths

from a longer and more recent period. It

also introduces new variables into this

analysis, in particular additional racial or

ethnic categories. The report also shows

how education reporting on the death

certificate affects mortality measures for

the United States by estimating life

expectancy by education level with and

without adjustment for differential

reporting.

Data and Methods

Evaluation of Education

Reporting on Death

Certificates

Data

NLMS was used to analyze

education reporting on the death

certificate in the United States. NLMS is

a longitudinal cohort study of mortality

administered by the U.S. Census

Bureau. It consists of records from

participants in the CPS and CPS Annual

Demographic Supplements, dating back

to 1973, as well as a subset of the

United States 1980 Census participants

(12). The U.S. Census Bureau conducts

the CPS on a monthly basis as a

complex probability sample of the

civilian, noninstitutionalized population

to obtain demographic and economic

information about the United States. The

surveys, which are conducted by

personal and telephone interview, are

administered to 60,000 occupied

housing units and have a response rate

of close to 96% (13). CPS records in the

NLMS are linked with death certificate

information obtained through the

National Vital Statistics System (NVSS).

NVSS is the voluntary contractual

arrangement between the National

Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and

registration areas to collect U.S. birth

and death data. NVSS coverage includes

over 99% of deaths that occur in the

registration areas, which consist of the

50 states, the District of Columbia, New

York City, and the U.S. territories (14).

NLMS currently contains records

for 2.3 million persons from 26 cohorts

of survey participants from the years

1973 and 1978–1998. These records are

followed for mortality by periodically

matching the records to the National

Death Index (NDI), which contains

death certificate information collected

by NVSS for all decedents in the United

States since 1979. NDI is maintained by

NCHS. Approximately 250,000 deaths

in the NLMS have been identified

through linkage with the NDI for deaths

from 1979 through the end of 1998 (12).

Death certificate education

information in the NLMS was reported

using a year-based system. The U.S.

Standard Certificate of Death included

an item about educational attainment for

the first time with the 1989 revision.

Some registration areas including New

York state, Puerto Rico, and Utah had

added an education item to their death

certificates in the 1970s (10). The

education item from the 1989 revision

categorized educational attainment

according to the highest grade of

education completed. Educational

attainment could be reported as 0–12

years of primary and secondary

education and 1–4 or 5 or more years of

college education (15). Forty-five states

and the District of Columbia included

the education item on the death

certificate in 1989, and in 33 of these

areas the education item on the death

certificate was completed for at least

80% of deaths. By 1998, 47 states and

the District of Columbia included the

item on the death certificate, and all of

these areas except Kentucky had 80%

completion of the item (16).
Series 2, No. 151 [ Page 3

CPS education information in the

NLMS was reported using a year-based

or degree-based system. From the

inception of the CPS in the 1940s until

1992, survey participants were asked to

identify the highest grade or year of

school that they and each member of

their household had attended and

whether the grade or year had been

completed (17). Respondents could

report completing 0–8 years of

elementary school, 1–4 years of high

school, or 1–6 or more years at a

college or university. Beginning in

January 1992, the CPS education item

was changed to ask for the highest level

of school completed or degree received.

Survey participants could report

completing 0–12 grades of education

without graduating from high school;

receiving a high school diploma or

GED; attending some college without

receiving a degree; or completing an

associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or

professional or doctorate degree. The

revised degree-based education item was

tested in the February 1990 CPS (17).

Respondents were asked to report

educational attainment in the year-based

system as part of the regular survey and

in the degree-based system in a

follow-up question. In most cases,

respondents reported educational

attainment in the two systems at levels

that were considered comparable in the

CPS, such as 4 years of high school

completed and high school graduate or 4

years of college completed and

bachelor’s degree. In some cases

however, respondents reported

educational attainment for individuals at

levels that were not considered

comparable. Some of these differences

probably occurred because individuals

had completed a certain number of years

of education without completing what

was considered to be the corresponding

degree. For example, a CPS respondent

could report the educational attainment

of a person who completed 4 years of

college without obtaining a college

degree as 4 years of college completed

in the year-based system and some

college but no degree in the degreebased system, even though these levels

were not considered comparable in the

CPS. Other differences probably resulted

from slight variations in the levels in the

two classification systems. For example,

10% of persons reported as having 4

years of high school completed as their

educational attainment in the year-based

system were also reported as having

some college but no degree as their

educational attainment in the

degree-based system, even though these

levels were not considered comparable

in the CPS. Some of these differences in

reporting probably occurred because

individuals had completed some

college-level coursework, as reported in

the degree-based system, without being

enrolled in college for at least 1 year,

and thus were not reported in the

year-based system as having completed

at least 1 year of college (17).

In this report, comparable levels in

the year-based and degree-based

classification systems will generally be

defined as less than 4 years of high

school completed and less than high

school graduate, 4 years of high school

completed and high school graduate,

1–3 years of college and some college

including community college but no

bachelor’s degree, 4 years of college

and bachelor’s degree, and more than 4

years of college and graduate degree.

These comparable levels are consistent

with the more detailed comparable

levels presented in the CPS report that

explained the transition from the

year-based classification system to the

degree-based classification system in the

survey (17).

Response rates for the education

item in the CPS have been relatively

consistent over time, with educational

attainment missing for approximately

2.6% of participants in March 2003 and

2.8% participants in March 2009 (18).

For CPS participants who do not report

educational attainment, the information

is imputed using a ‘‘hot deck’’

procedure that assigns an education

level based on the response in a record

with similar demographic characteristics

such as age, race, and sex (13).

Selection of NLMS records for

analysis

Decedents in the NLMS who were

included in the CPS from 1992 through

1998 and who were aged 25 and over at

the time of survey, were identified in

mortality follow-up through the end of

1998. These cohorts were selected for

analysis so that decedents had their

educational attainment reported in the

CPS using a single, consistent

classification system. Given that most

education is completed by age 25, it was

assumed that there was little change in

educational attainment between the time

of survey and the time of death for

these persons. Out of the 12,401

identified decedents who met these

criteria, 2,750 lacked death certificate

education information. Decedents whose

deaths occurred in states in years in

which an education item was not

included on the death certificate or in

which completion of the education item

did not reach 80%, were then excluded

from analysis. Additionally, death

certificate education information for two

states (Louisiana and New York) is not

included in the NLMS, and decedents

from these states were also omitted.

Table 1 lists the states by year for which

decedents were removed for these

reasons. After the removal of these

decedents, 10,570 decedents remained,

of which 1,199 lacked death certificate

education information.

Methods

Education reporting on the death

certificate was analyzed by comparing

education information reported on the

death certificate for NLMS decedents

with education information reported for

these same persons in the CPS. The

analysis was conducted for decedents

overall, and for decedents categorized

by sex, race, or ethnicity as reported in

the CPS and age at death as calculated

from the death certificate. All analyses

in this report that used NLMS data were

conducted with deaths weighted by the

appropriate person weights from the

CPS.

Differences in education reporting

on the death certificate and in the CPS

for NLMS decedents generally occur for

two reasons. One reason is that the

education information in one source can

be inaccurate, typically the death

certificate. It is generally assumed that

education information in the CPS is

correct, given that education information

that is self-reported or reported by a

fellow household member is usually
Page 4 [ Series 2, No. 151

more accurate than information reported

on the death certificate by a funeral

director, who often has little personal

knowledge of the decedent. Funeral

directors are supposed to obtain

education information from the

decedent’s next of kin, but sometimes

this does not occur or the next of kin

does not know this information. The

second reason is that the sources used

different classification systems. Death

certificate education information for

NLMS decedents was classified using a

year-based system, whereas CPS

education information was classified

using a degree-based system. These

classification systems have similar

education levels, but as previously

noted, research from the CPS has shown

that in some cases educational

attainment can be accurately reported in

the two classification systems at levels

that are not considered comparable (17).

Because of the use of different

classification systems in the sources, it

was not possible in this report to

distinctly identify differences in reported

educational attainment that were due to

misreporting on the death certificate, as

opposed to discrepancies caused by

classification differences. As such, only

general inferences about differences in

education reporting in the data sources

were made in this report because of the

limitations of the data. These inferences

were based on NLMS data as well as

findings in previous research on the

topic.

NLMS data were also used to

calculate classification ratios by

education level. These ratios consist of

the total number of decedents with a

particular level of educational attainment

in the CPS divided by the total number

of decedents with the comparable level

on the death certificate. The ratios are

similar to those produced in ‘‘The

Validity of Race and Hispanic Origin

Reporting on the Death Certificates in

the United States’’ for racial or ethnic

reporting on death certificates (19). The

ratios can be used as adjustment factors

to correct for bias in education reporting

found on death certificates. The use of

the classification ratios as adjustment

factors is described in greater detail in

the section on the effect of death

certificate education reporting on

mortality measures.

Death certificate education

information was imputed for NLMS

decedents that were missing this

information, for the calculation of the

classification ratios. The classification

ratios have death counts by education

level from the death certificate as their

denominators, so missing death

certificate data would have caused the

ratios to be centered on a value greater

than 1.0. NLMS decedents without

death certificate education information

generally had lower educational

attainment in the CPS than decedents

with this information. For example, 49%

of decedents without death certificate

education information did not graduate

from high school according to the CPS

compared with 35% of decedents with

death certificate education information.

Because of these differences, simply

omitting decedents without death

certificate education information for the

calculation of the classification ratios or

assigning them the same education

distribution as decedents with death

certificate education information would

have tended to bias the ratios. Instead,

educational attainment for the death

certificate was imputed for decedents

without death certificate education

information based on their educational

attainment as reported in the CPS. The

imputation procedure is described in

detail in the ‘‘Technical Notes’’ section.

In summary, the process assigned

decedents without death certificate

education information and with a

particular CPS education level the same

proportional distribution of educational

attainment for the death certificate that

was observed in the NLMS for

decedents with death certificate

education information who also had this

same CPS education level.

Effect of Death Certificate

Education Reporting on

Mortality Measures

Data

The classification ratios were used

with 2005 mortality and population data

to estimate mortality measures by

educational attainment for the United

States. Death counts by education level

for the United States were obtained

from death certificate information

collected by the NVSS. Deaths were

classified by state of occurrence, given

that state of occurrence determined

which state’s death certificate was used

to categorize educational attainment. In

2005, states used one of two education

items on their death certificates: the

year-based item from the 1989 revision

of the standard death certificate or a

degree-based item from the 2003

revision of the certificate. The

degree-based item from the 2003

revision categorized educational

attainment according to the highest level

or degree of education completed (15),

using the same classification system

used in the CPS since 1992. In 2005, 31

states used the year-based education

item from the 1989 revision of the

standard death certificate, and 17 states

used the degree-based education item

from the 2003 revision. Two states

(Georgia and Rhode Island) did not

include either education item on their

death certificates, and the District of

Columbia switched to the 2003

education item during the year. For the

sake of convenience, states using the

education item from the 1989 revision

of the standard death certificate in 2005

are referred to as the ‘‘1989 unrevised

states’’ in the remainder of this report.

States using the education item from the

2003 revision are referred to as the

‘‘2003 revised states.’’ Overall in 2005,

2.4% of death certificates from the 1989

unrevised states and 1.9% of death

certificates from the 2003 revised states

were missing education information. All

of the 1989 unrevised states and 2003

revised states had at least 80%

completion of the education item used

on their death certificates (16).

Population counts by education

level used to calculate U.S. mortality

measures for 2005 came from the CPS’s

Annual Social and Economic

Supplement (formerly the Annual

Demographic Supplement), which is

conducted each March. This supplement

obtains additional demographic

information such as marital status,

geographic mobility, work status and

occupation, and educational attainment.

The supplement is administered to
Series 2, No. 151 [ Page 5

approximately 39,000 housing units in

addition to the 60,000 units eligible for

the basic monthly CPS, to obtain more

reliable data for certain minority groups

(20). Weighted sample results from the

CPS are adjusted to agree with

independent estimates of the civilian,

noninstitutionalized population by age,

sex, race, Hispanic origin, and state of

residence. Population estimates from the

CPS are adjusted to match midyear

resident population totals for reporting

states when used by NCHS to calculate

mortality rates by education level (9).

Methods

Mortality rates by education level for

the United States in 2005 were calculated

from these death and population counts,

with and without adjustment for differences

in education reporting on the death

certificate compared to the CPS. Because

of the different classification systems used

on death certificates, mortality rates were

calculated separately for the 1989 unrevised

and 2003 revised states. This division of

states by classification system is customary

in vital statistics reports that present

mortality measures by educational

attainment (9). For each group of states,

death counts by education level from the

death certificate were multiplied by the

appropriate classification ratio obtained

from the NLMS to produce counts adjusted

for differential education reporting. This

adjustment process can be represented for

each education level

i as,

Observed Death Count i

* Classification

Ratio i = Adjusted Death Count i.

The adjustment process generally

converted death counts to the

degree-based classification system, as

will be seen in greater detail. The

adjusted death counts were then divided

by the corresponding population counts

by education level from the CPS, also

categorized using the degree-based

system,

Adjusted Death Counti

= Adjusted Mortality Rate

Population Count i, i

to calculate adjusted mortality rates by

education level.

Mortality rates for 2005 were

calculated for more specific education

levels for the 1989 unrevised states than

for the 2003 revised states. The 1989

unrevised states used the same

year-based education item on their death

certificates that was used on the death

certificates of the NLMS decedents.

Death counts by education level for the

1989 unrevised states were thus

produced with the same classification

system used to produce the death counts

used as the denominators of the

classification ratios. The adjustment

process therefore converted death counts

by education level for these states (U.S.)

from the year-based system used on

their death certificates (DC) to the

degree-based system:

(Observed death count i)

U.S. DC Deaths in Year - Based System i

*
 

(Classification ratio i

)
 

NLMS CPS Deaths in Degree - Based System i
 

=

NLMS DC Deaths in Year - Based System i

(Adjusted death count i

)

U.S. DC Deaths in Degree - Based Sytem i

The adjusted death counts were then

divided by CPS population counts, also

categorized using the degree-based

system, to calculate adjusted mortality

rates by education level. This agreement

in classification systems allowed

adjusted mortality rates for the 1989

unrevised states to be estimated for five

degree levels: less than high school

graduate, high school graduate or

equivalent, some college but no degree

or associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree,

and graduate degree.

This type of consistent agreement

between sources did not exist for the

2003 revised states, which used the

degree-based education item. Death

counts for these states were also

adjusted for differential education

reporting by multiplying them by the

appropriate classification ratios:

(Observed death count i)

U.S. DC Deaths in Degree - Based System i

*

(Classification ratio i

)
 

NLMS CPS Deaths in Degree - Based System i
 

=

NLMS DC Deaths in Year - Based System i

(Inexact adjusted death count i

)

U.S. DC Deaths in Degree - Based Sytem i

These adjustments were not exact,

however, because the death counts for

these states and the death counts in the

denominators of the classification ratios

were categorized using different

classification systems. Observed death

counts for these states need to be

adjusted for probable misreporting on

the death certificate, but the

classification ratios adjust for

differences in classification systems and

probable misreporting on the death

certificate. Because of this inexact

adjustment, the adjusted mortality rates

for the 2003 revised states were

calculated for three broad education

levels: less than high school graduate,

high school graduate, and more than

high school graduate. This more general

classification system is usually used for

mortality measures by educational

attainment when estimates are

considered to be inexact due to

misreporting on the death certificate or

the use of different classification

systems in the sources (9). It should be

possible in the future to calculate

mortality rates for the 2003 revised

states more exactly and for more

specific education levels. This will be

possible when survey data linked to

mortality data collected based on the

2003 revision of the standard death

certificate are available in sufficient

quantity to allow for calculation of

classification ratios using only education

data categorized with the degree-based

system.

Approximately 2% of deaths in

2005 in both the 1989 unrevised states

and 2003 revised states lacked death

certificate education information, and

these deaths were proportionally

allocated to the various education levels

for the calculation of mortality rates. It

was assumed that the education

distribution for U.S. decedents without

death certificate education information

was the same as the education

distribution for U.S. decedents with

death certificate education information.

This allocation procedure for U.S.

deaths differed from the imputation

procedure used in the calculation of

classification ratios with NLMS data.

The procedure for U.S. deaths was used

because of the small proportion of

deaths without death certificate
Page 6 [ Series 2, No. 151

education information and the absence

of additional education information in

U.S. mortality records that could be

used to infer an education level for the

death certificate.

Calculated mortality rates were then

used to estimate life expectancy by

educational attainment in the United

States in 2005. Standard life table

techniques were used (21), with

mortality rates for advanced ages

calculated for the open-ended age group

of 85 and over.

Results

Evaluation of Education

Reporting on Death

Certificates

Results validate concerns about

education reporting on the death

certificate and illustrate the effects of

different classification systems in the

data sources. The overall distribution of

educational attainment on the death

certificate for NLMS decedents is

shown by CPS education level in

Table 2. Educational attainment is

shown using the comparable five-level

classification systems for death

certificate information, reported in the

year-based system, and CPS

information, reported in the degreebased system. The table suggests

considerable differences in education

reporting in the two sources, due to both

differences in the classification systems

in the sources and probable misreporting

on the death certificate. Overall,

calculation using data presented in

Table 2 shows that 28% of decedents

had educational attainment reported on

the death certificate and in the CPS at

levels that are not considered

comparable in this report. The

correspondence between death certificate

and CPS education reporting seen here

is generally consistent with the results

found by Sorlie and Johnson for deaths

of NLMS participants that occurred in

1989 (2).

The results also indicate important

differences in education reporting for

particular education levels, some due to

differences in the classification systems

and others likely due to misreporting.

For example, 19% of decedents with

less than a high school education in the

CPS were identified on the death

certificate as having completed 4 years

of high school. This result is consistent

with findings in previous studies, which

found that people not completing 4

years of high school were often

misreported as having completed 4 years

of high school on the death certificate

(2,10,11). In addition, 28% of decedents

with some college education but no

bachelor’s degree in the CPS were

identified as having 4 years of high

school completed as their educational

attainment on the death certificate, even

though these education levels are not

considered comparable in the CPS and

in this report. Much of this particular

difference in reporting is probably due

to the use of different classification

systems. Testing in the CPS showed that

18% of individuals reported as having

some college education but no

bachelor’s degree with the degree-based

item were also reported as having 4

years of high school completed as their

educational attainment with the

year-based item (17).

Sex and age

Results assessing education

reporting on the death certificate are

also presented by key demographic

characteristics. The distribution of

educational attainment on the death

certificate is shown by sex in Table 3,

and Table 4 presents classification ratios

by sex. The ratios again suggest that the

less than high school graduate or less

than 4 years of high school level is

underrepresented and the high school

graduate or 4 years of high school level

overrepresented on the death certificate

compared to CPS data. The ratios also

suggest that the bachelor’s degree or 4

years of college level is overrepresented

on the death certificate compared to

CPS data, particularly for women. One

reason for this result, as shown in

Table 3, is that 22% of women with a

graduate degree in the CPS were

reported on the death certificate as

having completed 4 years of college.

Table 5 presents the education

distribution on the death certificate by

age at death. The same patterns in

agreement and disagreement between

death certificate and CPS information

seen in the overall data are generally

observed for each of the three age

groups. Educational attainment,

however, is generally much higher at

younger ages, with 20% of decedents

aged 25–44 having less than a high

school education in the CPS compared

to 46% of decedents aged 65 and over

(data not shown).

Race and Hispanic origin

Tables 6 and 7 identify differences

in education reporting on the death

certificate by race and Hispanic origin,

which are especially noticeable at the

CPS high school graduate level.

Educational attainment from the death

certificate and the CPS are classified

using comparable three-level

classification systems because of the

small numbers of deaths that are

available for education levels such as

bachelor’s degree and graduate degree

for some racial or ethnic groups. Table 6

shows that black persons reported as

high school graduates in the CPS were

more likely to have their educational

attainment reported as less than 4 years

of high school completed on the death

certificate (16%) than white high school

graduates (10%). Table 6 also indicates

that 22% of Asian or Pacific Islander

high school graduates had their

educational attainment reported as more

than 4 years of high school completed

on the death certificate, compared to

10% of white high school graduates.

Table 7 shows that Hispanic high school

graduates were more likely to have their

education reported as less than 4 years

of high school completed on the death

certificate (14%) than non-Hispanic high

school graduates (10%).

Effect of Death Certificate

Education Reporting on

Mortality Measures

The classification ratios shown in

Table 4 were used to adjust death counts

for differential education reporting on
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Adjusted 

Unadjusted 

More than high 

school graduate 

High school 

graduate 

Less than high 

school graduate 

Graduate degree 

Bachelor's degree 

Some college 

High school 

graduate 

Less than high 

school graduate 

1989 unrevised states 

Educational attainment 

2003 revised states 

Life expectancy at age 25 (e25) in years 

Adjusted 

1989 unrevised states Unadjusted

Educational attainment

2003 revised states 

Life expectancy at age 25 (e25) in years 

Less than high 

school graduate 

High school 

graduate 

Some college 

Bachelor's degree 

Graduate degree 

Less than high 

school graduate 

High school 

graduate 

More than high 

school graduate 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Series 2, No. 151 [ Page 7

Figure 1. Adjusted and unadjusted life expectancy for males at age 25, by educational

attainment: United States, 2005

Figure 2. Adjusted and unadjusted life expectancy for females at age 25, by educational

attainment: United States, 2005

the death certificate to improve

mortality estimates. Tables 8 and 9 and

Figures 1 and 2 present estimates of life

expectancy at selected ages calculated

from unadjusted and adjusted death

counts for the United States in 2005.

Estimates are given using the five-level

classification system for the 1989

unrevised states, which used the

year-based education item, and the

three-level classification system for the

2003 revised states, which used the

degree-based item.

As indicated in Tables 8 and 9,

estimates of U.S. life expectancy by

education level calculated from adjusted

data are more consistent and plausible

than estimates from unadjusted data.

The effect of adjustment is most

apparent at the less than high school

graduate and high school graduate levels

given that unadjusted estimates of life

expectancy for individuals without a

high school education are close to or

higher than estimates of life expectancy

for high school graduates at some ages.

This pattern is particularly noticeable at

older ages. This result is not found with

adjusted data, nor has it been found in

previous studies that used CPS

education data to estimate life

expectancy by educational level (4,7).

Higher unadjusted values of life

expectancy for individuals who are not

high school graduates compared to high

school graduates are probably caused by

education misreporting on the death

certificate. As indicated in Table 2, those

with less than a high school education

in survey data are often reported as

having completed 4 years of high school

on the death certificate. This differential

reporting tends to increase unadjusted

life expectancy for people who are not

high school graduates and decrease life

expectancy for people who are high

school graduates. Adjustment of death

counts, however, corrects for differential

reporting on the death certificate and

produces estimates of life expectancy

that generally increase with greater

educational attainment. Overall, adjusted

life expectancy at age 25 in the United

States in 2005 varied by education level

by 10–12 years for females and 11–16

years for males.

Summary and

Conclusion

This report has examined the

reporting and classification of education

information on the death certificate in

the United States through comparison

with CPS education information. It has

found substantial differences in

reporting in the sources, some of which

are probably due to misreporting on the

death certificate and some of which are

due to differences in the classification

systems in the sources. These findings

generally validate concerns about the
Page 8 [ Series 2, No. 151

validity of mortality measures by

education level from unadjusted death

certificate data (9). This report has also

shown, however, that classification

ratios obtained from the NLMS can be

used to adjust for differential education

reporting and improve mortality

estimates by education level.

Results presented here have also

identified specific patterns of differential

education reporting on the death

certificate in the United States that

affect mortality estimates. This report

supports the finding that it is common

for individuals who did not complete

high school to have their educational

attainment reported on the death

certificate as having completed 4 years

of high school. This result tends to

validate a specific concern about U.S.

mortality estimates calculated from

death certificate data. NCHS typically

publishes U.S. mortality rates by

education level for ages 25–64 because

of concerns about the accuracy of death

certificate education information at older

ages (9). Given that the age group 65

and over in the United States has a

higher proportion with less than a high

school education than younger age

groups, these results indicate that rates

obtained from unadjusted mortality data

for those aged 65 and over are

particularly unreliable. This report has

shown, however, that classification

ratios can adjust for differential

education reporting at older ages, thus

allowing the estimation of mortality

measures for advanced ages.

This report has also examined

patterns in education reporting and

classification on the death certificate in

the United States for racial or ethnic

groups. The classification systems used

in the sources did not correspond

exactly, but black and Hispanic high

school graduates in the CPS appeared to

be more likely than white or nonHispanic high school graduates to have

their educational attainment

underreported on the death certificate.

Asian or Pacific Islander high school

graduates in the CPS also appeared to

be more likely than white high school

graduates to have their educational

attainment overreported on the death

certificate. Additional research is needed

to verify these trends and to produce

mortality rates and life tables by

educational attainment for specific racial

or ethnic groups.

This report has also found the

general pattern of mortality differentials

by educational attainment observed

previously, namely that life expectancy

in the United States consistently

increases with greater education and that

differences in life expectancy by

education level are greater for men than

women. The range of values for U.S.

life expectancy by education level found

in this report is consistent with

previously published results from death

certificate data (1,8), although the

adjustment process used here to correct

for education misreporting has increased

the accuracy of results for particular

education levels and allowed for the

estimation of mortality measures for

more specific education levels.

This report has also illustrated the

complications introduced by the use of

different classification systems for

educational attainment in the data

sources. The use of a year-based item

on the 1989 revision of the standard

death certificate, as opposed to the

degree-based item on the 2003 revision

and in the CPS, has made the evaluation

of education reporting on the death

certificate and estimation of mortality

measures for the 2003 revised states

inexact. This situation should improve

when data collected with the degreebased item of the 2003 revision are

available in sufficient quantity to allow

for the evaluation of education reporting

on the death certificate and the

calculation of classification ratios using

data collected with a single

classification system.

Finally, this analysis has other

limitations that should be noted. Most

notably, the classification ratios used to

adjust for education misreporting on

U.S. death certificates in 2005 were

obtained using data from the years

1992–1998. Education reporting on the

death certificate changes over time, so

the classification ratios may not correct

exactly for misreporting in more recent

years. The classification ratios were also

calculated from data that omitted

decedents from certain states, and it is

not known what effect, if any, these

omissions had on the results.

References

1.	 Meara ER, Richards S, Cutler DM. The

gap gets bigger: Changes in mortality

and life expectancy, by education,

1981–2000. Health Aff 27(2):350–60.

2008.

2.	 Sorlie PD, Johnson NJ. Validity of

education information on the death

certificate. Epidemiology 7(4):437–9.

1996.

3.	 Kitagawa EM, Hauser PM. Differential

mortality in the United States: A study

in socioeconomic epidemiology.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Press. 1973.

4.	 Rogot E, Sorlie PD, Johnson NJ. Life

expectancy by employment status,

income, and education in the National

Longitudinal Mortality Study. Public

Health Rep 107(4):457–61. 1992.

5.	 Preston SH, Elo IT. Are educational

differentials in adult mortality

increasing in the United States? J

Aging Health 7(4):476–96. 1995.

6.	 Elo IT, Preston SH. Educational

differentials in mortality: United States,

1979–85. Soc Sci Med 42(1):47–57.

1996.

7.	 Lin CC, Rogot E, Johnson NJ, Sorlie

PD, Arias E. A further study of life

expectancy by socioeconomic factors in

the National Longitudinal Mortality

Study. Ethn Dis 13(2):240–7. 2003.

8.	 Molla MT, Madans JH, Wagener DK.

Differentials in adult mortality and

activity limitation by years of education

in the United States at the end of the

1990s. Popul Dev Rev 30(4):625–46.

2004.

9.	 Kung HC, Hoyert DL, Xu JQ, Murphy

SL. Deaths: Final data for 2005.

National vital statistics reports; vol 56

no 10. Hyattsville, MD: National

Center for Health Statistics. 2008.

10.	 Shai D, Rosenwaike I. Errors in

reporting education on the death

certificate: Some findings for older

male decedents from New York State

and Utah. Am J Epidemiol 130(1):188–

92. 1989.

11.	 Makuc DM, Feldman JJ, Mussolino

ME. Validity of education and age as

reported on death certificates. In: 1996

proceedings of the social statistics

section. American Statistical

Association. 1997.

12.	 U.S. Census Bureau. NLMS project

description. 2009. Available from:

http://www.census.gov/nlms/

projectDescription.html.
Series 2, No. 151

[ Page9

13.	 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and

U.S. Census Bureau. The Current

Population Survey: Design and

methodology. Washington, DC. 2002.

14.	 National Center for Health Statistics.

Vital statistics of the United States:

Mortality, 1999. Technical appendix.

Hyattsville, MD. 2004.

15.	 National Center for Health Statistics.

U.S. standard death certificate. 2003.

Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/

nchs/nvss/mortality_methods.htm.

16.	 National Center for Health Statistics.

Mortality multiple cause of death file.

Hyattsville, MD. 2008.

17.	 Kaminski R, Adams A. Educational

attainment in the United States: March

1993 and 1992. Current Population

Reports P20–476. Washington, DC:

U.S. Census Bureau. 1994.

18.	 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and

U.S. Census Bureau. Current

Population Survey annual social and

economic survey data file. Washington,

DC. 2003–2009.

19.	 Arias E, Schauman WS, Eschbach K, et

al. The validity of race and Hispanic

origin reporting on the death

certificates in the United States. Vital

Health Stat 2(148). 2008.

20.	 U.S. Census Bureau. Source and

accuracy of the data for the March

2005 Current Population Survey

microdata file. 2005. Available from:

http://www.census.gov/apsd/techdoc/

cps/cpsmar05.pdf.

21.	 Preston SH, Heuveline P, Guillot M.

Demography: Measuring and modeling

population processes. Malden, MA:

Blackwell. 2001.
Page 10 [ Series 2, No. 151

Table 1. Education reporting on the death certificate, by state, 1992–1998

States with death

States with less than 80% certificate education

States without education completion of education item information not

Year item on death certificate on the death certificate linked to NLMS

1992 ......... Georgia, Oklahoma, Rhode Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York

Island, South Dakota New York, West Virginia

1993 ......... Georgia, Oklahoma, Rhode Kentucky, New York, Louisiana, New York

Island, South Dakota West Virginia

1994 ......... Georgia, Oklahoma, Rhode Kentucky Louisiana, New York

Island, South Dakota

1995 ......... Georgia, Oklahoma, Rhode Kentucky Louisiana, New York

Island, South Dakota

1996 ......... Georgia, Oklahoma, Rhode Kentucky Louisiana, New York

Island, South Dakota

1997 ......... Georgia, Rhode Island, Kentucky Louisiana, New York

South Dakota

1998 ......... Georgia, Rhode Island, Kentucky Louisiana, New York

South Dakota

NOTE: NLMS is National Longitudinal Mortality Study.
 

SOURCES: CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System and National Longitudinal Mortality Study.
 

Table 2. Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level: National Longitudinal Mortality Study

deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts

Death certificate education level Total

CPS education level

0–3 years

of high

school

4 years

of high

school

1–3 years

of college

4 years

of college

5 or

more years

of college Unknown

Percent of

weighted

deaths by

CPS

education

level

Number of

deaths by

CPS

education

level

Percent

Less than high school graduate .........

High school graduate................

Some college ....................

Bachelor’s degree..................

Graduate degree ..................

Total weighted deaths by death certificate

education level ...................

66

10

3

1

1

31

19

69

28

5

2

35

1

9

49

11

2

12

0

1

9

60

16

7

0

0

2

14

70

4

13

10

10

9

9

11

41

32

15

8

4

100

4,389

3,349

1,611

792

429

10,570

NOTE: CPS is Current Population Survey.
Series 2, No. 151 [ Page 11

Table 3. Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and sex: National Longitudinal

Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts

Death certificate education level

Female Male

CPS education level

0–3 years

of high

school

4 years

of high

school

1–3 years 4 years

of college of college

5 or

more

years of

college Unknown

0–3 years

of high

school

4 years

of high

school

1–3 years 4

of college of

years

college

5 or

more

years of

college Unknown

Less than high school graduate .........

High school graduate................

Some college ....................

Bachelor’s degree..................

Graduate degree ..................

Total weighted deaths by death certificate
 

education level....................

63

10

3

1

2

30

21

70

28

5

1

37

1

8

49

12

2

11

0

1

8

61

22

7

0

0

1

13

64

3

14

11

11

9

9

12

Percent

69

11

3

2

1

32

18

68

28

5

3

32

1

10

48

11

2

12

0

1

9

59

14

8

0

0

2

14

72

6

12

10

9

9

8

10


 


 


 


 


 


 

NOTE: CPS is Current Population Survey.

Table 4. Classification ratios of Current Population Survey deaths to death certificate deaths, by education level and sex: National

Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts

Education level

CPS Death certificate Females Males

Less than high school graduate........................ Less than 4 years of high school 1.23 (.021) 1.17 (.018)
 

High school graduate .............................. 4 years of high school 0.81 (.017) 0.82 (.018)
 

More than high school graduate ....................... More than 4 years of high school overall 1.00 (.021) 1.03 (.018)
 

Some college . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–3 years of college 1.09 (.041) 1.16 (.043)
 

Bachelor’s degree ................................ 4 years of college 0.91 (.047) 0.97 (.043)
 

Graduate degree................................. 5 or more years of college 0.80 (.066) 0.84 (.038)
 

NOTES: Standard errors are in parentheses. CPS is Current Population Survey.
he death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and age at death: National Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from

Death certificate education level

25–44 45–64 65 and over

Less Less

5 or than 5 or than 5 or

ears more 4 years 4 years more 4 years 4 years more

high 1–3 years 4 years years of high of high 1–3 years 4 years years of high of high 1–3 years 4 years years

hool of college of college of college Unknown school school of college of college of college Unknown school school of college of college of college Unknown

Percent

21 2 0 1 14 65 22 1 0 0 12 66 19 19 1 0 13

73 9 1 0 9 9 72 10 1 0 9 11 68 9 2 0 11

27 56 7 1 8 3 27 50 9 1 9 3 29 46 9 2 10

1 10 70 11 8 1 6 12 62 10 7 1 6 11 58 15 9

0 0 12 72 15 1 2 2 15 71 9 1 3 2 17 69 8

40 20 10 4 10 25 38 14 8 5 10 35 33 10 7 4 12

he death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and race: National Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998

Death certificate education level

White Black American Indian or Alaska Native1 Asian or Pacific Islander

Less than More than Less than More than Less than More than Less than More than

4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years 4 years

of high of high of high of high of high of high of high of high of high of high of high of high

school school school Unknown school school school Unknown school school school Unknown school school school Unknown

Percent

.. 67 20 2 12 61 18 2 19 67 13 1 20 74 19 0 7

.. 10 70 10 10 16 60 12 11 5 58 7 30 6 69 22 3

.. 2 18 71 9 2 23 63 12 0 11 80 9 0 9 87 5

.. 30 35 24 11 39 30 15 16 42 26 11 22 30 26 39 5

for high school graduate and more than high school graduate in the CPS are based on fewer than 20 unweighted deaths.

Page 12[ Series 2, No. 151
Series 2, No. 151 [ Page 13

Table 7. Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level and Hispanic origin: National

Longitudinal Mortality Study deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts

Death certificate education level

Hispanic Non-Hispanic

CPS education level

Less than

4 years

of high

school

More than

4 years 4 years

of high of high

school school Unknown

Less than

4 years

of high

school

More than

4 years 4 years

of high of high

school school Unknown

Less than high school graduate .........

High school graduate................

More than high school graduate .........

Total weighted deaths by death certificate

education level....................

61

14

2

44

13

48

22

21

3

7

62

13

23

31

13

23

Percent

66

10

2

30

20

70

18

35

1

11

71

24

12

10

9

11

NOTE: CPS is Current Population Survey.

Table 8. Life expectancy, by educational attainment for selected ages: U.S. males, 2005

e25 e45 e65

Education level on death certificate Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted

Unrevised states with 1989 year-based education item

Less than high school graduate.........................

High school graduate ...............................

Some college ....................................

College graduate..................................

Graduate degree..................................

Revised states with 2003 degree-based education item

Less than high school graduate.........................

High school graduate ...............................

More than high school graduate ........................

46.3

48.3

54.2

57.0

57.7

48.4

49.0

57.4

44.2

50.9

52.5

57.3

59.8

46.2

51.5

57.0

29.0

30.5

35.4

37.6

38.4

30.9

30.9

38.3

27.2

32.8

33.8

38.0

40.5

29.0

33.2

37.9

15.7

15.5

18.5

20.2

20.5

16.6

16.1

21.1

14.3

17.3

17.2

20.5

22.4

15.1

17.8

20.8

NOTES: Death counts used in the calculation of life expectancy by education level came from death certificate information. The degree-based education item from the 2003 revision of the U.S.

Standard Certificate of Death was used in 2005 in California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina,

South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Georgia and Rhode Island were excluded from the analysis because an education item was not included on their death certificates, and the District of

Columbia was excluded because it transitioned from use of the 1989 item to use of the 2003 item during the year.

SOURCES: CDC/NCHS, National Longitudinal Mortality Study, National Vital Statistics System, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Table 9. Life expectancy, by educational attainment for selected ages: U.S. females, 2005

e25 e45 e65

Education level on death certificate Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted

Unrevised states with 1989 year-based education item

Less than high school graduate......................... 52.6 49.9 34.4 32.0 18.9 16.9

High school graduate ............................... 53.6 56.2 35.0 37.4 18.4 20.4

Some college .................................... 59.3 58.3 40.0 39.1 22.3 21.4

College graduate.................................. 60.3 61.5 40.8 41.9 22.7 23.8

Graduate degree.................................. 59.3 61.6 39.8 42.0 21.4 23.4

Revised states with 2003 degree-based education item

Less than high school graduate......................... 54.8 52.0 36.3 33.8 20.3 18.3

High school graduate ............................... 54.7 57.3 35.9 38.4 19.3 21.4

More than high school graduate ........................ 61.6 61.6 42.1 42.2 24.3 24.3

NOTES: Death counts used in the calculation of life expectancy by education level came from death certificate information. The degree-based education item from the 2003 revision of the U.S.

Standard Certificate of Death was used in 2005 in California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina,

South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Georgia and Rhode Island were excluded from the analysis because an education item was not included on their death certificates, and the District of

Columbia was excluded because it transitioned from use of the 1989 item to use of the 2003 item during the year.

SOURCES: CDC/NCHS, National Longitudinal Mortality Study, National Vital Statistics System, and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Page 14 [ Series 2, No. 151

Appendix
 

Technical Notes

Imputation of educational

attainment for the calculation

of classification ratios

As part of the calculation of

classification ratios, educational

attainment was imputed for National

Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS)

decedents without death certificate

education information using a four-step

procedure. First, NLMS decedents

without death certificate education

information were grouped together and

the number of these decedents was

found for each Current Population

Survey (CPS) education level. These

numbers are shown in the first column

(see table). Second, decedents with

death certificate education information

were grouped by CPS education level,

and the proportion of decedents reported

at each education level on the death

certificate was found for each CPS

education level. The remaining columns

show these proportions (see table).

Third, the number of decedents without

death certificate education information

and with each CPS education level

found in Step 1 was multiplied by the

proportions found for that CPS

education level in Step 2. This

calculation provided the number of

decedents by CPS education level that

should be assigned each education level

for the death certificate. For example,

the number of decedents without death

certificate education information with

less than a high school education in the

CPS (588) was multiplied by the

proportion of decedents with this CPS

education level who also had less than 4

years of high school reported on the

death certificate (0.761) to equal 447

records. The proportion of decedents

with less than a high school education

in the CPS who also had 4 years of high

school reported on the death certificate

(0.222) was then multiplied by 588.

This continued across the row for the

other death certificate education levels.

This process was then repeated for the

remaining CPS education levels. Finally,

the resulting numbers of decedents were

randomly selected from decedents

without death certificate education

information and with the appropriate

education level in the CPS, and then

assigned the selected education level for

the death certificate. For example, 447

randomly selected decedents without

death certificate education information

who had less than a high school

education in the CPS were assigned less

than 4 years of high school completed

as their education level for the death

certificate.

Table. Education distribution on the death certificate, by Current Population Survey education level: National Longitudinal Mortality Study

deaths from 1992–1998 cohorts

Weighted distribution of death certificate education

by CPS education level for NLMS records with death certificate

and CPS education information

Number of

records without Less than

education 4 years 4 years 5 or more

on death of high of high 1–3 years 4 years years of

CPS education level certificate school school of college of college college

Less than high school graduate............ 588 0.761 0.222 0.013 0.003 0.001

High school graduate .................. 347 0.115 0.768 0.098 0.015 0.003

Some college ....................... 154 0.035 0.311 0.537 0.098 0.018

Bachelor’s degree .................... 70 0.014 0.058 0.122 0.658 0.148

Graduate degree..................... 40 0.012 0.025 0.020 0.177 0.765

NOTE: CPS is Current Population Survey; NLMS is National Longitudinal Mortality Study.
Vital and Health Statistics

Series Descriptions

ACTIVE SERIES

Series 1.	 Programs and Collection Procedures—This type of report

describes the data collection programs of the National Center

for Health Statistics. Series 1 includes descriptions of the

methods used to collect and process the data, definitions, and

other material necessary for understanding the data.

Series 2.	 Data Evaluation and Methods Research—This type of

report concerns statistical methods and includes analytical

techniques, objective evaluations of reliability of collected

data, and contributions to statistical theory. Also included are

experimental tests of new survey methods, comparisons of

U.S. methodologies with those of other countries, and as of

2009, studies of cognition and survey measurement, and final

reports of major committees concerning vital and health

statistics measurement and methods.

Series 3.	 Analytical and Epidemiological Studies—This type of

report presents analytical or interpretive studies based on vital

and health statistics. As of 2009, Series 3 also includes

studies based on surveys that are not part of continuing data

systems of the National Center for Health Statistics and

international vital and health statistics reports.

Series 10.	 Data From the National Health Interview Survey—This

type of report contains statistics on illness; unintentional

injuries; disability; use of hospital, medical, and other health

services; and a wide range of special current health topics

covering many aspects of health behaviors, health status, and

health care utilization. Series 10 is based on data collected in

this continuing national household interview survey.

Series 11.	 Data From the National Health Examination Survey, the

National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, and

the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey—

In this type of report, data from direct examination, testing,

and measurement on representative samples of the civilian

noninstitutionalized population provide the basis for (1)

medically defined total prevalence of specific diseases or

conditions in the United States and the distributions of the

population with respect to physical, physiological, and

psychological characteristics, and (2) analyses of trends and

relationships among various measurements and between

survey periods.

Series 13.	 Data From the National Health Care Survey—This type of

report contains statistics on health resources and the public’s

use of health care resources including ambulatory, hospital,

and long-term care services based on data collected directly

from health care providers and provider records.

Series 20.	 Data on Mortality—This type of report contains statistics on

mortality that are not included in regular, annual, or monthly

reports. Special analyses by cause of death, age, other

demographic variables, and geographic and trend analyses

are included.

Series 21.	 Data on Natality, Marriage, and Divorce—This type of

report contains statistics on natality, marriage, and divorce

that are not included in regular, annual, or monthly reports.

Special analyses by health and demographic variables and

geographic and trend analyses are included.

Series 23.	 Data From the National Survey of Family Growth—These

reports contain statistics on factors that affect birth rates,

including contraception and infertility; factors affecting the

formation and dissolution of families, including cohabitation,

marriage, divorce, and remarriage; and behavior related to

the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

These statistics are based on national surveys of women and

men of childbearing age.

DISCONTINUED SERIES

Series 4.	 Documents and Committee Reports—These are final

reports of major committees concerned with vital and health

statistics and documents. The last Series 4 report was

published in 2002. As of 2009, this type of report is included

in Series 2 or another appropriate series, depending on the

report topic.

Series 5.	 International Vital and Health Statistics Reports—This

type of report compares U.S. vital and health statistics with

those of other countries or presents other international data of

relevance to the health statistics system of the United States.

The last Series 5 report was published in 2003. As of 2009,

this type of report is included in Series 3 or another series,

depending on the report topic.

Series 6.	 Cognition and Survey Measurement—This type of report

uses methods of cognitive science to design, evaluate, and

test survey instruments. The last Series 6 report was

published in 1999. As of 2009, this type of report is included

in Series 2.

Series 12.	 Data From the Institutionalized Population Surveys—

The last Series 12 report was published in 1974. Reports

from these surveys are included in Series 13.

Series 14.	 Data on Health Resources: Manpower and Facilities—

The last Series 14 report was published in 1989. Reports on

health resources are included in Series 13.

Series 15.	 Data From Special Surveys—This type of report contains

statistics on health and health-related topics collected in

special surveys that are not part of the continuing data

systems of the National Center for Health Statistics. The last

Series 15 report was published in 2002. As of 2009, reports

based on these surveys are included in Series 3.

Series 16.	 Compilations of Advance Data From Vital and Health

Statistics—The last Series 16 report was published in 1996.

All reports are available online, and so compilations of

Advance Data reports are no longer needed.

Series 22.	 Data From the National Mortality and Natality Surveys—

The last Series 22 report was published in 1973. Reports

from these sample surveys, based on vital records, are

published in Series 20 or 21.

Series 24.	 Compilations of Data on Natality, Mortality, Marriage, and

Divorce—The last Series 24 report was published in 1996.

All reports are available online, and so compilations of reports

are no longer needed.

For answers to questions about this report or for a list of reports published

in these series, contact:

Information Dissemination Staff

National Center for Health Statistics

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

3311 Toledo Road, Room 5412

Hyattsville, MD 20782

1–800–232–4636

E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

Internet: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics

3311 Toledo Road

Hyattsville, MD 20782

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE, $300

FIRST CLASS
 

POSTAGE & FEES PAID
 

CDC/NCHS
 

PERMIT NO. G-284
 

CS211285

T36601 (5/2010)

DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 2010–1351, Series 2, No. 151