QUALITY OF SURVEY INFORMANTS REPORTS ABOUT DEATH - VERIFICATION OF DATES THROUGH A RECORD CHECK

To determine whether relatives and others can provide valid informatio n about the dates of survey respondents' deaths, informants' reports w ere compared with death certificates for 328 deceased respondents from the MESA study of older adults. About two-thirds (64.6%) of the infor mants accurately reported the complete date of death. A somewhat large r percentage (70.4%) correctly reported the day of death, whereas 86.9 % and 89.6% remembered the year and month, respectively. The percentag e of correct reports varies by the relationship between informant and respondent. Also, the findings suggest that women are more accurate re porters than are men, and that the percentage of accurate reports is g reater for longer-term relationships.