| Show results of these studies indicate that religiously active LDS church members -experience significantly lower levels of cancer and longer ife expectancy than non-LDS Hence the health benefits of adherence to the LDS lifestyle are well established While previous research has documented that LDS compared to non-LDS individuals have lower than average mortality rates for heart disease and cancer research has not determined whether or not LDS males and females die of different causes compared to non-LDS The current paper presentsranking of leading causes of death in Utah according to religious status LDS versus non-LDS for males and females in five 20-year age categories Also direct comparisons of mortality rates are made between LDS and non-LDS for the leading causes of death for both genders These rankings and comparisons provideperspective of the burden of disease in Utah according to important subgroups of the population Such results are expected to yield useful information for community-based public health prevention efforts as well as inform the medical community of the current burden of disease in the state of Utah Methods Description of data Analysis is based on data from three sources the Utah Department of Health theS Bureau of the Census and the LDS Church Al data used in the analysis are from the years 1994 through 1998 State death records for all causes of death were obtained from the Utah Department of Health Among other information these records contain name gender date of birth date of death county of death and cause of death which is classified according to the Classification International of Diseases Revision ICD-9 codes National Center for LDS church Health Statistics 1989 membership records were obtained for all deceased members who resided in Utah during the years 1994-1998 The purpose for using these records was to LDS according Denominators for the to classify church mortality individuals membership rates were obtained using annual population estimates from theS Bureau of the Census for the state of Utah The denominators used for estimating the non-LDS rates are based on the difference between the LDS census estimates and state population estimates Reliability of records Utah has hadmedical examiner system in Al accidental and or place since 1967 unattended deaths are investigated and the medical examiner fills out the death certificate stating cause of death The attending physician fills out the death certificate for all other deaths TheS Bureau of the Census generates ageand gender-specific population estimates each year for all 50 states and the District of Their methods for obtaining these Columbia estimates are described in detail elsewhere United States Bureau of the Census 1997 Although these population estimates have some amount of variability associated with them no corresponding estimates of modeling or sampling error are provided The LDS record-keeping system and its high level of accuracy has been previously reported Enstrom 1975 The LDS Church creates and maintainsmembership record for each infant who is givenname and blessing by church elders They also create and maintainchurch record for persons who are baptized in the church who were not blessed as infants Church records are created at the congregation level at the time of blessing or baptism and then forwarded to the general church level where the membership record is added to the church membership database These records contain minimal information such as name date of birth parents names date of church ordinances and current address Each congregation haslay membership clerk who is responsible for updating the membership records for members of the congregation Such updates would include dates of ordinances g baptism priesthood ordinations for men marriage etc name of spouse whenmember marries change of current address and date of death Whenmember dies the clerk reports the death to the LDS Church Member and Statistical Records Division and the record is updated and archived in the churchdeceased membership file 40 Digital image 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah Al rights reserved |
