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Title: Error in the Measurement of Mortality: An Application to the Analysis of Racial Mortality Disparity
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Hsu, Yu-Chieh
Taylor, Lowell J.
Error in the Measurement of Mortality: An Application to the Analysis of Racial Mortality Disparity
Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 31-April 2, 2011
Cohort(s): Older Men
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Methods/Methodology; Mortality; Racial Differences; Racial Studies; Underreporting

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

A large empirical literature studies the forces that shape racial disparity in mortality. Given that factors early in one's life can be important for subsequent mortality outcomes, such research often relies on panel data. An important example is the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men (NLS-OM), which collected data for men aged 45--59 in 1966 and several subsequent years, and then also reported deaths as indicated by death certificate data collected in 1990. An important methodological issue arises in studies that use such data: deaths are likely to be under-reported, most likely in systematic ways. In the NLS-OM, for example, the matching procedure appears to have missed a substantial number of deaths. We work out a simple model that illustrates the effect of this measurement error, and then show that inappropriate handling of the measurement error in survival analysis causes serious problems for inference.
Bibliography Citation
Hsu, Yu-Chieh and Lowell J. Taylor. "Error in the Measurement of Mortality: An Application to the Analysis of Racial Mortality Disparity." Presented: Washington, DC, Population Association of America Annual Meetings, March 31-April 2, 2011.