DEATH RATES AND DEATH DATA FOR ASIAN AMERICAN ELDERLY

本研究的目的是分析亚裔美国老人的死亡经验。通常通过结合生命统计和人口普查数据构建的“亚洲或太平洋岛民”（API）的死亡率比任何其他种族类别的死亡率都低得多--不到白色死亡率的三分之二，也低于日本的死亡率，日本是预期寿命最高的国家。在得出结论，这一人口是真正健康的，也许是由于一些组合的“健康移民”的影响或财富，数据来源的问题必须排除。具体来说，有理由怀疑死亡证明和人口普查之间的种族编码不一致。 此外，总体API类别可能掩盖了六个主要种族群体之间的相当大的异质性：日本人、中国人、韩国人、越南人、亚洲印度人和菲律宾裔美国人。 拟议的项目将确定这六个群体中65岁以上人群的年龄和性别死亡率，所采用的方法避免了将人口动态和人口普查数据相结合的缺陷，采用了单一的分子和计算数据来源，即社会保障管理局的主受益人记录。 我们将使用在以前的项目中开发的亚洲种族识别方法，根据种族代码、名字、姓氏/娘家姓和出生地，确定六个群体中每一个群体中65岁以上的人。 已确定人员的SSA死亡记录将与死亡证明年龄和种族数据进行比较。 我们将解决这些研究问题：在六个主要的亚裔美国人群体中，老年人的年龄特异性、性别特异性死亡率是否不同？ 死亡率是否因出生地而异，即美国-出生的和外国出生的 亚裔美国老人死亡证明上的年龄和种族信息有多可靠？ 可靠性是否因种族、年龄、出生地或死亡状态而异？ 按种族群体和出生地分列的特定原因死亡率是多少？ 这项工作将允许更准确地预测这些快速增长的种族人口的寿命，促进更好地了解移民和健康之间的关系，并将确定每个群体的主要死亡原因，从而为未来的流行病学研究提供信息。

The purpose of this project in the demography of aging is to analyze the mortality experience of Asian American elderly. Death rates, routinely constructed by combining vital statistics and census data, are much lower for the race category "Asian or Pacific Islander (API)" than those for any other race category - less than two-thirds of white rates, and are also lower than death rates in Japan, the country with highest life expectancy. Before concluding that this population is truly healthier, perhaps due to some combination of "healthy immigrant" effect or wealth, problems with data sources must be ruled out. Specifically, there is reason to suspect inconsistencies in race coding between death certificates and the census. Further, the aggregate API category may mask considerable heterogenity among the six major ethnic groups: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, and Filipino Americans. The proposed project would determine age- and sex-specific death rates for those 65+ in each of these six groups using methodology which avoids the pitfalls of combining vital status and census data by employing a single data source for numerators and denominators, the Master Beneficiary Record at the Social Security Administration (SSA). We would identify persons 65+ in each of the six groups using methods for Asian ethnic identification developed in a previous project, based on race code, given name, surname/maiden name and place of birth. SSA death records for identified persons will be compared with death certificate age and race data. We will address these research questions: Do age-specific, sex-specific death rates for the elderly differ among the six major Asian American Populations? Do death rates differ by nativity, i.e. U.S.-born versus foreign-born? How reliable are age and race information on death certificates for Asian American elderly? Does reliability vary by ethnic group, age, nativity, or state of death? What are the cause-specific death rates by ethnic group, and by nativity? This work will allow more accurate projections of longevity for these rapidly growing ethnic populations, foster a better understanding of the relationship between immigration and health, and will identify major causes of mortality in each group, thus informing future epidemiologic research.