Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health
Population Health Research Brief Series
More Uncertainty Leads to Less Accuracy on Death Certificates for Adults with Intellectual Disability
Erin Bisesti, Scott D. Landes
March 2021
Causes of death are often inaccurately reported on death certificates for individuals with intellectual disability. This research brief examines whether uncertainty surrounding the death is associated with the inaccurate reporting of intellectual disability as the underlying cause of death.
Results show that increased uncertainty surrounding deaths, especially in instances of choking related deaths, increases the probability that intellectual disability is inaccurately reported as the underlying cause of death.