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    • Public-Use Linked Mortality Files

    Metadata Updated: April 23, 2025

    NCHS has linked data from various surveys with death certificate records from the National Death Index (NDI). Linkage of the NCHS survey participant data with the NDI mortality data provides the opportunity to conduct a vast array of outcome studies designed to investigate the association of a wide variety of health factors with mortality. The Linked Mortality Files (LMF) have been updated with mortality follow-up data through December 31, 2019.

    Public-use Linked Mortality Files (LMF) are available for 1986-2018 NHIS, 1999-2018 NHANES, and NHANES III. The files include a limited set of mortality variables for adult participants only. The public-use versions of the NCHS Linked Mortality Files were subjected to data perturbation techniques to reduce the risk of participant re-identification. For select records, synthetic data were substituted for follow-up time or underlying cause of death. Information regarding vital status was not perturbed.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

    Downloads & Resources

    References

    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/datalinkage/public-use-linked-mortality-files-data-dictionary.pdf

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date February 22, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date April 23, 2025

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from Healthdata.gov

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date February 22, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date April 23, 2025
    Publisher Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    Maintainer
    Identifier https://data.cdc.gov/api/views/r9nv-zxge
    Data First Published 2023-05-15
    Data Last Modified 2025-04-21
    Category National Center for Health Statistics
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 009:20
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Metadata Catalog ID https://healthdata.gov/data.json
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Data Dictionary https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/datalinkage/public-use-linked-mortality-file-description.pdf
    Data Dictionary Type application/pdf
    Harvest Object Id 2a3c89f4-7f8d-4623-a7f7-adc956cc794f
    Harvest Source Id 651e43b2-321c-4e4c-b86a-835cfc342cb0
    Harvest Source Title Healthdata.gov
    Homepage URL https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-linkage/mortality-public.htm
    License http://opendefinition.org/licenses/odc-odbl/
    Old Spatial United States
    Program Code 009:020
    Related Documents https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/datalinkage/public-use-linked-mortality-files-data-dictionary.pdf
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 22a13268b48914cd454afebe838e8cb4d7641560ee0febb54b07c0d15f3589c0
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":-124.733253,24.544245,-124.733253,49.388611,-66.954811,49.388611,-66.954811,24.544245,-124.733253,24.544245}
    Temporal 1979/2019

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