Oregon Vital Statistics
Individual-level data from birth and death certificates in Oregon. Includes demographic information, characteristics of mother's health and prenatal care, and cause of death.
Vital records events occurring in Oregon for residents and non-residents. This does not include vital events occurring outside of the state, even for Oregon residents.
Access
Oregon's Center for Health Statistics (CHS) is responsible for compiling and analyzing the data from vital event records reported in Oregon. Vital statistics data are confidential and exempt from public disclosure. Oregon law regulates the release of vital statistics and data are generally only released for public health purposes. According to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), vital statistics data are available to researchers who:
a) Have a valid need for the information
b) Cannot obtain the information from other sources
c) Are authorized to receive the information
d) Can insure the integrity of the vital record or report
Researchers must complete a Data Use Request form that includes a survey to provide the state with information about individuals requesting data. The Data Use Request form is online and must be completed all at once, so it is recommended that researchers prepare answers to questions beforehand. The questions can be downloaded from the Data Use Request webpage by clicking the “Key questions for data requests” document. Researchers must agree to abide by the Center for Health Statistics Database Confidentiality Rules. Full details about the data use request process for Oregon vital record data can be found in OAR 333-011-0325.
Timeline for Access
Data use requests are reviewed by CHS every other week. If there are questions regarding submissions, researchers will hear from CHS after this review. Once a request is approved and payment is received, it usually takes one to two weeks to receive data. Contact [email protected] if you have questions about preparing your submission.
Researchers must destroy this data after the purpose of the request has been fulfilled.
Lag Time
Finalized data are updated annually and are available on an approximately one-year lag. Additionally, preliminary data are available to researchers and are updated quarterly. Note that these data are “undergoing editing procedures which result in frequent and significant changes” and CHS advises against using preliminary data for statistical analysis.
Cost
For most requests, CHS charges $60/hour for the time required to prepare a custom data set. Requestors will be notified of the payment amount upon approval of their data request.
Linking
According to the CHS Database Confidentiality Rules, researchers must have specific written permission from the Oregon DHS-HS IRB to link individual records from this data set with other information from any other data set. This includes linking to the individuals in a study sample researchers create or survey data researchers collect themselves. Researchers will be asked to specify which databases they plan to link to the Vital Statistics data.
Identifiers Available for Linking
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Residential address or longitude/latitude
- Residential census block
- Social Security number
Data Contents
Oregon vital statistics data are organized into five databases: Births, Deaths, Fetal Deaths, Matched Infant, and Abortion. Individual level data is available for Births, Deaths, and Fetal Deaths. Fetal Death records include deaths for fetuses that are 350 grams or more, or if weight is unknown, 20 weeks gestation or more. To classify as a fetal death, the fetus must die unintentionally in utero or during delivery. The Matched Infant file consists of matched birth and death certificates for deaths that occur within one year of birth, stripped of identifying information. The best way to link matched infant death records with other data sources is to request the infant records from the birth and death files, as opposed to the matched infant file.
File layout, variables, and variable codes were substantially revised between 2005 and 2008 for most data sets. See the File Layout spreadsheets for complete lists and formats of variables, and the ‘Change Log’ tab for records of when the collection of certain variables stopped or started. As of January 2015, the CHS stopped being able to provide out-of-state records for Oregon residents in data use requests in accordance with changes to the Inter-jurisdictional Exchange Agreement.
Partial List of Variables
Birth: Mother’s age at time of delivery, fertility rates, mother’s county of residence, marital status of mother at time of delivery, risk factors for pregnancy, principal method of payment for delivery, birth weight, gestational age, characteristics of newborn, congenital anomalies, delivery method, prenatal care, place of birth
Deaths: Sex, causes of death, place of death, injury information, age, race (any mention) and ethnicity, educational attainment, occupation, county of residence, birth place
Fetal Death: parents names’, parent’s dates of birth, parent’s demographics, mother’s health, mother’s pregnancy history, mother’s prenatal care, gestational age, birthweight, cause of death, congenital anomalies, county of residence, place of delivery
J-PAL Randomized Evaluations Using this Data Set
Finkelstein, Amy, Sarah Taubman, Bill Wright, Mira Bernstein, Jonathan Gruber, Joseph P. Newhouse, Heidi Allen, Katherine Baicker, and the Oregon Health Study Group. 2012. "The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year." Quarterly Journal of Economics 127(3): 1057-1106.