National Longitudinal Mortality Study -- National Death Record Index Linkage

In a collaboration begun in 1999 with the Census Bureau and other federal agencies, NCI is working to overcome the limited availability of sociodemographic information on death certificates and to obtain self-reported racial/ethnic data. This has involved the extension and expansion of the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS) and linkage to the National Death Index. Other sponsoring agencies are the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute on Aging; and the National Center for Health Statistics. Expected to add data on 60,000 cancer deaths, this linkage will allow an in-depth analysis of racial/ethnic, socioeconomic and occupational differentials in cancer mortality for the major cancer sites.

Data are available for major census groups, such as whites, blacks/African Americans, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Asian Indians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Hawaiians, and other Asian/Pacific Islanders, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans, and other Hispanics. The 10-year mortality follow-up to the NLMS records was completed in 1995. The data for a 20-year mortality follow-up from 1979 to 1998 were obtained in 2002, and Phase II expansion of the NLMS data will continue through 2008. Information about the public use data can be obtained from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute NLMS Web site.

Research projects built on the NLMS include a database containing smoking information collected in the 1990s containing 173,704 records with valid responses to "smoking" questions, which will be linked to the NLMS mortality data.