This week we will investigate how frequently death certificates capture diabetes prevalence:
McEwen et al, Temporal Trends in Recording of Diabetes on Death Certificates
Cheng et al, Sensitivity and Specificity of Death Certificates for Diabetes: As Good as it Gets?
Results (spoiler alert): McEwen et al – Diabetes was recorded on 41% of death certificates and as the underlying cause of death for 13% of decedents with diabetes. Cheng et al – Among 1641 men and 1568 women, 378 decedents had a history of diabetes; 168 of whom had diabetes listed anywhere on their death certificates.
Healthy Algorithms 