Colorectal cancer deaths as determined by expert committee and from death certificate: A comparison. The Minnesota Study

For deaths during the first 13 years of follow-up of the Minnesota Colon Ca ncer Control Study, an expert committee using numerous medical documents, a nd a nosologist using only the death certificate independently determined w hether colorectal cancer caused the death and, if not, whether the disease was present at death. Deaths due to colorectal cancer numbered 318 accordin g to the nosologist and 323 according to the committee, a discrepancy of 1. 5%, which is similar in magnitude to that in three previous studies. The no sologist and committee agreed that colorectal cancer caused the death in ea ch of 290 individual cases; they disagreed widely on the number of deaths f rom other causes but with colorectal cancer. If it is important to know only the gross number of deaths from colorectal cancer, then the death certificate alone appears to be sufficiently accurat e; if it is important to know the cause of death of individual subjects or the number dying from other causes but with colorectal cancer, then the exp ert committee method provides more accurate information J CLIN EPIDEMIOL 52 ;5:447-452, 1999. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.