Use of the Canadian Mortality Data Base for Epidemiological Follow-up

• Published in: Canadian journal of public health 1982-01, Vol.73 (1), p.39-46
• Main Authors: SMITH, MARTHA E., NEWCOMBE, HOWARD B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Breast cancer; Canada; Child; Child, Preschool; Death; Death certificates; Epidemiology; Family names; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Identifiers; Infant; Infant Mortality; Infant, Newborn; Male; Middle Aged; Mining; Mortality; Occupational Diseases - mortality; Registries; Uranium
• ISSN: 0008-4263; 1920-7476

Epidemiological follow-up of large cohorts exposed to potentially harmful agents and circumstances, has been facilitated in Canada by the development of a consolidated file of information on all deaths in the country back to 1950. This Mortality Data Base is designed to be conveniently searched by computer, and to yield both dates and underlying causes of deaths among members of a study population. Current and future major uses are described. Most of the studies relate to groups of persons numbering in the tens to hundreds of thousands. The studies are concerned with the long-term consequences of various occupations, medical treatments and diagnostic procedures, and circumstances of other kinds which may contribute to deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease and other causes. The industrial groups include uranium miners, nickel workers, hard rock miners, and radiation workers, plus some exposed to asbestos, fibreglass, vinyl chloride and formaldehyde vapour. The medical patients include persons exposed repeatedly to fluoroscopic X-rays, and others treated with a potentially carcinogenic drug, isoniazid. Similar follow-up is planned for participants in a large nutritional survey, and is in progress for large numbers of mothers who had their first offspring at various ages, there being special interest, respectively, in cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. Demands for such uses of the Mortality Data Base have increased rapidly since its establishment and show no sign of diminishing. La poursuite des recherches en épidémiologie sur nombre d'individus exposés aux dangers et aux accidents au Canada a été favorisée par la mise en place d'un système consolidé de fiches de renseignements sur tous les décès survenus au pays depuis 1950. Ces statistiques sur la mortalité sont conçues pour être facilement analysées par ordinateur et pour révéler à la fois les dates et les utilisations fondamentales des décès chez les représentants d'une population étudiée. Les principales utilisations, présentes et à venir, sont ici décrites. La plupart des études portent sur des dizaines et des centaines de milliers d'individus. Elles s'intéressent aux conséquences à long terme des types de travail, traitements médicaux et méthodes de diagnostic, ainsi qu'aux circonstances de type varié qui peuvent entraîner le décès par cancer, maladies cardiovasculaires, et autres causes. Les groupes industriels comprennent les mineurs de l'uranium, les mineurs du nickel, les mineurs de min