Sean Altekruse outlines some of the various funding opportunities available for researchers interested in the exploration of public health issues.

Gina Lovasi outlines four research projects utilizing the MDAC database linked to data developed at Drexel University covering, area-based, built environment and other measures on environmental characteristics. The four projects presented demonstrate the commitment to using spatial data to advance knowledge about how places affect people and how places can then be changed to better support people and their health.

Jennifer Moss shares analysis on how the results of analysis which use aggregated measures of socioeconomic status for a given geographic area are consistent with results based on the use of individual level socioeconomic status variables.

Mark Olfson presents work that he has completed using the MDAC database for his research on the epidemiology of deaths of despair: suicide, drug overdose and chronic liver disease. He discusses advantages in using the MDAC database for this research. His focus is on issues of socioeconomic status and the role of and the relationship between low educational attainment, employment and low income separated and of course marital status and relationship to these deaths of despair.

Neal Freedman presents work that he has completed using the NLMS database including the inclusion of tobacco used information. He discusses his interest in understanding the impacts of changing smoking patterns for cigarettes and other products over time in US adults and then to understand the impact of those on diseases. He shows the advantages of using the NLMS database to achieve results on two specific topics of particular interest.

Beth Virnig’s presentation focuses on encouragement and the opportunities to use Medicare and Medicaid data linked to the studies of the workshop to support research interests. The complexity of Medicare and Medicaid data is discussed along with a discussion of the user support available.

Norman Johnson specifically addresses the process of developing a research proposal, completing it and the submitting it to activate research using the databases of focus in this workshop. He fully describes the interactions that would occur in conducting the research and the process used to provide the researcher the results obtained.

Learn how we build our mortality studies by using household survey responses and linking them to the National Death Index.

National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS) - Current Population Survey (CPS)
Mortality Disparities in American Communities (MDAC) - American Community Survey (ACS)
Tobacco Longitudinal Mortality Study (TLMS) - Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement (CPS-TUS)

Learn about prior research based on the Mortality Studies databases.

In order to perform research on the full (non-public use) Mortality Studies databases, it is critical to obtain support from the sponsoring agencies. Learn who these agencies are and their interests.

Security is paramount to protecting household survey responses. We discuss the procedures in place to protect sensitive data and what researchers must do in order to obtain access to our databases and view their results.

Learn how to access the databases for our Mortality Studies. We highly recommend working with our Census Bureau statisticians who help perform your analysis and provide your results through our remote system, RODAS.