Compressed Mortality File

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Data Release

The current version of the Compressed Mortality File has data for 1999-2016. The file is available on CD ROM and on CDC WONDER. See Data Availability.

Database Description

The Compressed Mortality File (CMF) is comprised of a county-level national mortality file and a corresponding county–level national population file. The mortality file of the CMF contains a select subset of the variables contained in the detailed annual mortality files. Currently, the CMF spans the years 1968- 2016 and is divided into four parts: 1968-78, 1979-88, 1989-98, and 1999-2016. The first two parts are public use files and are available on a CD-ROM (CMF 1968-88 Series 20 No. 2A).  The other two parts can be made available on CD-ROMs to researchers under Part II Use Agreements (CMF 1989-98 Series 20 No. 2E and CMF 1999-2016 Series 20 No. 2V). The CMF is also available on CDC WONDER as an online interactive query data base (see Interactive Data Bases and Tables). The CMF is a relatively compact file as it contains only a select set of variables.

 

Mortality Data File Description

Mortality data on the CMF are based on the NCHS annual detailed mortality files that include a record for every death of a U.S. resident recorded in the United States (except 1972, for which year the data are based on a 50 percent sample of deaths and weighted by a factor of 2). The annual detailed mortality files contain an extensive set of variables derived from the death certificates. For the CMF, the source data records were condensed by retaining only a select set of variables: (1) State and county of residence, (2) year of death (rather than the full date of death), (3) race (1968-98: recoded to white, black, other; 1999-present: recoded to white, black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander), (4) sex, (5) for 1999-present: Hispanic origin (not Hispanic or Latino, Hispanic or Latino) (6) age group at death (specific age recoded to 16 age groups), (7) underlying cause of death (4-digit ICD code), and (8) 69 ICD-8, 72 ICD-9, 113 ICD-10 cause-of-death recode (depending on the data year). The number of records was reduced by aggregating records with identical values for these seven variables and adding a count variable to the aggregate record indicating the number of identical records.

 

Population File Description

The population estimates on the CMF are based on Bureau of the Census estimates of total U.S., State, and county resident populations. The 1968 and 1969 State and county population estimates were calculated by NCHS using linear extrapolation.  The 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000. and 2010 population estimates are April 1 modified census counts. The estimates for 1971-79, 1981-89, 1991-99, and 2001-09 are intercensal estimates of July 1 resident populations. The estimates for 2011- present are postcensal estimates of the July 1 resident population. Note that the estimates for 1991-present are based on bridged-race categories. The population estimates on the CMF are by geographic unit (total United States, state, and county), year, race (1968-1998: white, black, other; 1999 – present: white, black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander), sex, Hispanic origin (1999-present: not Hispanic or Latino, Hispanic or Latino), and age group (13 age groups). To permit the calculation of infant mortality rates, NCHS live-birth data are included on the file.

 

List of Data File Variables at a Glance

Table 1 lists the variables on the mortality and population files of the CMF for 1968-1998 and 1999-present and the values available for each variable.

list of data variables
Variable Mortality file Population file
FIPS state code X X
FIPS county code X X
County name — X
Age group Under 1 day

1-6 days

7-27 days

28-364 days

1-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15-19 years

20-24 years

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

55-64 years

65-74 years

75-84 years

85+ years

 Under 1 year and live births

1-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15-19 years

20-24 years

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

55-64 years

65-74 years

75-84 years

85+ years
Race-sex 1968-1998:
  • White male
  • White female
  • Black male
  • Black female
  • Other male
  • Other female

1999-present:

  • White male
  • White female
  • Black male
  • Black female
  • American Indian or Alaska Native male
  • American Indian or Alaska Native female
  • Asian or Pacific Islander male
  • Asian or Pacific Islander female
 1968-1998:
  • White male
  • White female
  • Black male
  • Black female
  • Other male
  • Other female

1999-present:

  • White male
  • White female
  • Black male
  • Black female
  • American Indian or Alaska Native male
  • American Indian or Alaska Native female
  • Asian or Pacific Islander male
  • Asian or Pacific Islander female
Hispanic origin 1968-1998:

—

1999-present:

  • Not Hispanic or Latino
  • Hispanic or Latino
  • Not stated
 1968-1998:

—

1999-present:

  • Not Hispanic or Latino
  • Hispanic or Latino
Year of death 1968-present 1968-present
ICD code for underlying cause-of-death 1968-78: ICD-8

1979-98: ICD-9

1999-present: ICD-10

 —
Cause-of-death recode 1968-78: 69 causes

1979-98: 72 causes

1999-present: 113  causes

 —

X This variable is available on the file.

— This variable is not available on the file.

 

Data File Technical Characteristics

Table 2 shows the record length and number of records on each of the CMF mortality and population files.

record length and number of records
Mortality files
Files Record length Number of records
1968-78 23   8,774,864
1979-88 23   8,776,385
1989-98 23   9,691,181
1999-2016 24 21,172,266
record length and number of records
Population files
Files Record length Number of records
1968-78 140 206,712
1979-88 148 189,966
1989-98 148 191,418
1999-2016 1,379,232

 

Geographic Coverage

The CMF includes records for all counties in the 50 States and the District of Columbia by county of residence. Changes in county geography (addition and deletion of counties, and boundary changes) and associated changes in the FIPS codes occur from time to time. Some county boundary changes result in substantial increases or decreases in the population of the affected county and hence impact death counts, population estimates, and death rates for that county. Changes to counties were implemented in the vital records system (and hence on the CMF) in 1989, 1994, and 2003 and 2014. See Appendix E of the file documentation for details.

Suggested Citation:

The suggested citation to appear at the bottom of all tables is as follows:

Source: National Center for Health Statistics (Compressed Mortality File range of years of file:e.g., 1968-88, 1989-98, 1999-2016)

When cited in a bibliography, the citation should read:

For CMF 1999-2016:

National Center for Health Statistics. Compressed Mortality File, 1999-2016 (machine readable data file and documentation, CD‑ROM Series 20, No. 2V) as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program.  Hyattsville, Maryland. 2017.

For CMF 1989-1998:

National Center for Health Statistics. Compressed Mortality File, 1989-98 (machine readable data file and documentation, CD‑ROM Series 20, No. 2E) as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program.  Hyattsville, Maryland. 2007.

 

Data Availability

The Compressed Mortality File (CMF) is updated annually when the final annual mortality data becomes available.  Release dates vary from year to year.

Over the years, confidentiality standards have changed for the public release of geographic detail on vital statistics data files. See NCHS Data Release and Access Policy for Micro-data and Compressed Vital Records Files.  As a result of these changes, the CMF with data for 1968-88 is a public-use file; the CMF with data for 1989 and later is a restricted-use file.

A.CMF 1968-1988 (Series 20, No 2A) – This public-use data file is available:

  1. In query page format on CDC WONDER.
  2. Downloadable data files:
  3. On CD-ROM, send a request to popest@cdc.gov

 

B. CMF 1989-98 and CMF 1999-present – The CMF with data for 1989 onwards is a restricted-use file because of restrictions on release of sub-national mortality data.  Data for 1989 onwards are available:

  1. In query page format on CDC WONDER with some data suppression in effect for subnational data (death counts and rates are suppressed if the number of deaths is less than 10).
  2. Researchers may apply for the CMF 1989-98 and onwards by following the process outlined below. Data for approved projects will be provided on CD at no cost. Our current agreement with the states on the re-release of restricted data requires a review of all such data requests by the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) which represents state vital registrars. The review by NAPHSIS is conducted prior to the NCHS review and includes both federal and non-federal requests for restricted data files.Application process for CMF 1989-98 onwards
    1. The researcher submits a completed project review form to the NAPHSIS review team. Some states have laws, regulations or policies that prohibit release of certain data items. In the course of the review the NAPHSIS review team will determine whether the request contravenes any of these state limitations. The researcher will be notified by NAPHSIS of their decision on the data request. NCHS will also be apprised of the NAPHSIS review decision, at which time NCHS will conduct its usual review.
    2. If the proposal is approved, NCHS will send the researcher (and his/her contractors if Federal) a Data Use Agreement. All data users associated with the research must agree to the conditions of usage, including the following:
      1. Researcher and associates will use a data file only for the approved project.
      2. The researcher will return the compressed files to NCHS and destroy all derived files at the end of the designated project period.
      3. The data files cannot be shared with any staff not listed in the data use agreement, or with anyone outside the requesting organization.
      4. The data may not be accessed (directly or remotely) by anyone located outside the United States.
    3. If the project proposal is denied, alternative access may be available through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC) which has specific procedures to follow for controlled access to data files. Use of the RDC entails costs to the data requestor. See the RDC website for specific procedures.

Documentation

 

External Cause-of-Injury Data

Users of the CMF on CDC WONDER can quickly and easily obtain injury deaths and rates according to the external cause-of-injury matrix. Mechanism and intent are separate variables in the CMF on CDC WONDER allowing users to tabulate by one or the other, or both. In addition, this new feature allows for comparisons to non-injury causes of death. For additional information about the matrix approach to categorizing injury deaths, see ICD Injury Matrices.

 

Urban-Rural Classification for Counties

Users of the CMF 1999-present on CDC WONDER can obtain death rates and counts (and maps and charts) for counties grouped according to a six-level urban-rural classification scheme. The most urban category in the scheme consists of central counties in metropolitan areas of 1 million or more and the most rural category consists of non-metropolitan counties with no urban clusters of 10,000 or more population. For additional information about the urban-rural classification, please see NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties.

 

Maps and Charts

Users of the CMF on CDC WONDER can quickly and easily obtain maps and charts to graphically display death counts or rates for requested cross tabulations. Maps are available for either the United States (showing state or county death counts and rates) or for individual states (showing county data). Bar charts, line charts, and pie charts can be requested for 2-way cross tabulations.

 

Interactive Databases and Tables

 

Contact

Barnali Das

Office of Analysis and Epidemiology

National Center for Health Statistics

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

3311 Toledo Rd., Room 4252

Hyattsville, Maryland 20782

(301) 458-4881

E-mail: popest@cdc.gov

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