About Provisional Mortality Statistics, 2018 through Last Week

The Provisional Multiple Cause of Death database contains mortality and population estimates for all U.S. counties and Puerto Rico. Data are based on death certificates for U.S. residents. Each death certificate contains a single underlying cause of death, up to twenty additional multiple causes, and demographic data. The number of deaths, crude death rates, age-adjusted death rates, 95% confidence intervals and standard error for death rates can be obtained by cause of death (4 digit ICD-10 codes, 113 selected causes of death, 130 selected causes of infant death, drug and alcohol related causes of death, injury intent and injury mechanism categories), place of residence or place of death's occurrence (national, region, division, state, and county), age (single-year-of age, 5-year age groups, 10-year age groups and infant age groups), single race categories, Hispanic ethnicity, sex and year. Data are also available by urbanization categories for counties, place of death, year, month, and week of death, and whether an autopsy was performed.

Data Use Restrictions:

The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)) provides that the data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) may be used only for the purpose for which they were obtained; any effort to determine the identity of individuals and establishments violates the assurances of confidentiality provided by federal law. Therefore users will:

• Use these data for statistical reporting and analysis only.
• Not present or publish statistics representing nine or fewer births or deaths, including rates based on counts of nine or fewer births or deaths, in figures, graphs, maps, tables etc.
• Make no attempt to learn the identity of any person or establishment included in these data.
• Not engage in any efforts to assess disclosure methodologies applied to protect individuals and establishments or any research on methods of re-identification of individuals and establishments.
• Make no disclosure or other use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Confidentiality Officer, NCHS, of any such discovery.
  
  Confidentiality Officer
  National Center for Health Statistics
  3311 Toledo Road
  Hyattsville, MD 20782
  Phone: 888-642-4159
  Email: nchsconfidentiality@cdc.gov

Sanctions for Violating Rules:

Researchers who violate the terms of the data use restrictions will lose access to these data and their sponsors and institutions will be notified. Researchers who are suspected of violating the rules may be prevented from using these data until an investigation can be completed. Knowingly or willfully making a false statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the Federal government is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, and is punishable by a fine or imprisonment, or both.