BACKGROUND: One of the national mortality databases in the U.S. is the Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) @entity204 File that contains @entity204 dates of those who have received any benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The @entity1939 of this database was shown to vary widely from cohort to cohort in previous studies. Three other sources of @entity204 dates are available in the VA that can complement the BIRLS @entity204 File. The objective of this study is to evaluate the @entity1939 and accuracy of @entity204 dates in the four sources available in the VA and to examine whether these four sources can be combined into a database with improved @entity1939 and accuracy. METHODS: A random sample of 3,000 was drawn from 8.3 million veterans who received benefits from the VA between 1997 and 1999 and were alive on January 1, 1999 according to at least one source. @entity204 dates found in BIRLS @entity204 File, Medical SAS Inpatient Datasets, Medicare Vital Status, and Social Security Administration (SSA) @entity204 Master File were compared with dates obtained from the National @entity204 Index. A combined dataset from these sources was also compared with National @entity204 Index dates. RESULTS: Compared with the National @entity204 Index, sensitivity (or the percentage of @entity204 dates correctly recorded in a source) was 77.4% for BIRLS @entity204 File, 12.0% for Medical SAS Inpatient Datasets, 83.2% for Medicare Vital Status, and 92.1% for SSA @entity204 Master File. Over 95% of @entity204 dates in these sources agreed exactly with dates from the National @entity204 Index. @entity204 dates in the combined dataset demonstrated 98.3% sensitivity and 97.6% exact agreement with dates from the National @entity204 Index. CONCLUSION: The BIRLS @entity204 File is not an adequate source of mortality data for the VA population due to @entity445 . When the four sources of mortality data are carefully combined, the resulting dataset can provide more timely data for @entity204 ascertainment than the National @entity204 Index and has comparable accuracy and @entity1939 .

Accuracy and XXXX of mortality data in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

@entity1939 :: ('MESH:D001766', 'Disease') :: ['completeness'] @entity445 :: ('MESH:C536298', 'Disease') :: ['incompleteness'] @entity204 :: ('MESH:D003643', 'Disease') :: ['Death', 'death']
@entity1939 :: (MESH:D001766,Disease) :: ['completeness']
