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Citation |
Xaverius PK, Wambuguh L, Ward C, Salas J, Alleman E, Young J, Berkemeier J. J. Forensic Sci. 2018; 63(6): 1756-1760. |
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Affiliation |
Vermont Department of Health and Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Injury Prevention, Burlington, VT. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2018, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
29603226 |
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Abstract |
Medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) investigate deaths important to public health. This cross-sectional study evaluated 343,412 death certificates from 2007 to 2012 in Missouri. We examined agreement between cause and manner of death by year and ME/C contact as well as 2010-2012 trends in ME/C contact. There was near perfect agreement between cause and manner of death when an ME/C was contacted (kappa=0.97, p < 0.0001) and a significant increase in the proportion of deaths with ME/C contact from 2010 to 2012 (p =< 0.0001). There was a significantly higher proportion of ME/C-certified deaths using the electronic system in 2010-2012 (aOR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.15, 1.21) compared to the manual system in 2007-2009. Black, non-Hispanic (aOR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.43,1.57) and Hispanic (aOR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.13, 1.51) deaths, compared to White, non-Hispanic deaths, were associated with a significantly greater odds of ME/C certification. Race as an independent predictor of ME/C death certification warrants further research. Language: en |
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Keywords |
coroner; forensic science; medical examiner; mortality |