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Current Policy
Starting with the release of the 2011 U.S. Mortality data, SEER has adopted the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) policy for excluding states when calculating Hispanic or Non-Hispanic mortality rates. States are excluded if data on Hispanic origin were not collected for any one year included in the statistic. For example, if you were calculating a U.S. rate for 1990+, all three states in the exclusion list below would be excluded from the analysis.
Exclusions
- Louisiana: 1990
- New Hampshire: 1990-1992
- Oklahoma: 1990-1996
The NCHS policy excludes fewer states for fewer years than the previous policy used by SEER.
The following report describes the history of Hispanic origin reporting on death certificates in the United States. Refer to Appendix I to see when each state began reporting Hispanic origin.
Arias E, Schauman WS, Eschbach K, Sorlie PD, Backlund E. The validity of race and Hispanic origin reporting on death certificates in the United States. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 2(148). 2008. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_148.pdf (PDF)
Previous Policy (used through the 2010 data release)
SEER's policy for calculating Hispanic mortality changed with the 2011 release of the U.S. Mortality data. The information below describes the policy used in previous releases.
There are years for which the mortality data for a specific state may have included a large number of individuals with unknown origin/ethnicity (Hispanic/non-Hispanic/Unknown). Calculation of statistics for Hispanics and non-Hispanics for these years excluded such states.
The following index is used to determine when the number of deaths with unknown origin/ethnicity, within a state, is high enough that resulting statistics for Hispanics and non-Hispanics are deemed unreliable. Count data used in calculating the index includes deaths from all causes for all ages and genders.
Hispanic Index = [Hispanic Population / Total Population] x Unknown Origin Count x 100
Hispanic Count
When this index gives a value >= 10.00, data on Hispanic and non-Hispanic mortality are deemed unreliable.
Hispanic Index and Data Usage
A table has been developed that shows the Hispanic Index for each state for each year. When the index >= 10.00 the entry is highlighted and marked with a footnote indicator. The footnote reads: Data on Hispanic and non-Hispanic mortality may be unreliable for this year and the user is cautioned against drawing conclusions from such data. This was based on the value of the Hispanic Index (formula, link (or reference) to the table).
Statistics for the United States should not include regions/states with a value of the Hispanic Index 10.00 for any one year covered by the statistic. These exclusions should be indicated with a footnote including an explanation, formula and link (or reference) to the table as described above.
Hispanic Index Tables
SEER Cancer Statistics Review through the 1975-2010 Release
The SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-2010 and previous versions do not include data from any state for which the Hispanic Index is >= 10.00 for any year included in the statistic. That is, they do not include states that have one or more years with the Hispanic Index >= 10.00 in statistics that span such a year. This is indicated with a footnote including an explanation, the Hispanic Index formula, and a link (or reference) to the Hispanic Index Table.
