Reporting Down syndrome on the death certificate for Alzheimer disease/unspecified dementia deaths.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Death certificates are crucial for understanding population health trends including the burden of disease mortality. Accurate reporting of causes of death on these records is necessary in order to implement adequate public health policies and fund disease research. While there is evidence that Alzheimer disease and unspecified dementia are prevalent among people with Down syndrome, a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rule change instructing that Down syndrome should be reported as the underlying cause of death in instances when death occurred from Alzheimer disease or unspecified dementia threatens the accuracy and the utility of death certificates for this population.

Methods

This study used 15 years (2005-2019) of US death certificate data fo

SUBMITTER: Landes SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9925077 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature