# Does the IPUMS NHIS mortality data include the recent NCHS mortality linkage through 2014?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/does-the-ipums-nhis-mortality-data-include-the-recent-nchs-mortality-linkage-through-2014/2780>\
**Category:** HEALTH SURVEYS\
**Created:** [February 6, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/does-the-ipums-nhis-mortality-data-include-the-recent-nchs-mortality-linkage-through-2014/2780 "2019-02-06T15:29:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![purduem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de0a6/32.png) [@purduem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/purduem)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/does-the-ipums-nhis-mortality-data-include-the-recent-nchs-mortality-linkage-through-2014/2780/1 "2019-02-06T15:29:00Z")

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NCHS recently updated the mortality linkage of NHIS and other surveys through 2014. Is this updated mortality data now available in the IPUMS NHIS data? If not, when will this become available?

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**Author:** ![JeffBloem](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/jeffbloem/32/40_2.png) [@JeffBloem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/JeffBloem)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/does-the-ipums-nhis-mortality-data-include-the-recent-nchs-mortality-linkage-through-2014/2780/2 "2019-02-06T18:55:00Z")

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These files are not currently available on the IPUMS Health Surveys site. However, the team does plan to offer these files through IPUMS NHIS. The rough timeline, at the moment, is to have these files up by early March at the latest.

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**Author:** ![purduem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de0a6/32.png) [@purduem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/purduem)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/does-the-ipums-nhis-mortality-data-include-the-recent-nchs-mortality-linkage-through-2014/2780/3 "2019-03-12T17:21:26Z")

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Hi, I see that the updated mortality data are now available. However, I notice that the variable MORTUCOD does not include data for surveys after 2005, nor for post-2005 mortality events from earlier survey participants.

Will MORTUCOD eventually be updated through 2014, as for the other mortality data? If so, when might this take place?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![JeffBloem](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/jeffbloem/32/40_2.png) [@JeffBloem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/JeffBloem)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/does-the-ipums-nhis-mortality-data-include-the-recent-nchs-mortality-linkage-through-2014/2780/4 "2019-03-13T18:17:12Z")

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The short answer to this question is no, the MORTUCOD variable will not be available in samples beyond 2004. The NHIS (and NCHS) have been moving in the direction of reducing the level of detail available in their public use files. The slightly longer answer is if this variable is crucial to your work, you can look into the [restricted access version](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-linkage/mortality-restricted.htm) of the linked NHIS-NDI data ([codebook here](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/datalinkage/LMF2015_DataDictionary_MortVars.pdf), cause of death variables on p. 17).