ASCERTAINMENT OF MORTALITY IN THE U. S. VETERAN POPULATION1

Abstract

The veteran population is increasingly recognized as a major resource for medical follow-up and epidemiologic studies. NAS-NRC monitoring of mortality ascertainment through the files of the Veterans Administration, based on deaths in 1956, and most recently in 1962, shows that routine VA flies are quite complete for deaths among all veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Most recently, a representative sample of 2,291 deaths in June, 1962, was checked against military flies in St. Louis to identify veterans with war service, whose mortality status was then sought in VA files by routine procedures. For World War I veterans, VA records and procedures were 92% complete, and for World War 11, 98%. For veterans of the Korean War the estimate for World War II veterans seems appropriate.