A dataset to advance the study of life-cycle interactions of biomedical and socioeconomic factors in the aging process. The EI project has assembled a variety of large datasets covering the life histories of approximately 39,616 white male volunteers (drawn from a random sample of 331 companies) who served in the Union Army (UA), and of about 6,000 African-American veterans from 51 randomly selected United States Colored Troops companies (USCT). Their military records were linked to pension and medical records that detailed the soldiers������?? health status and socioeconomic and family characteristics. Each soldier was searched for in the US decennial census for the years in which they were most likely to be found alive (1850, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1910). In addition, a sample consisting of 70,000 men examined for service in the Union Army between September 1864 and April 1865 has been assembled and linked only to census records. These records will be useful for life-cycle comparisons of those accepted and rejected for service. Military Data: The military service and wartime medical histories of the UA and USCT men were collected from the Union Army and United States Colored Troops military service records, carded medical records, and other wartime documents. Pension Data: Wherever possible, the UA and USCT samples have been linked to pension records, including surgeon''''s certificates. About 70% of men in the Union Army sample have a pension. These records provide the bulk of the socioeconomic and demographic information on these men from the late 1800s through the early 1900s, including family structure and employment information. In addition, the surgeon''''s certificates provide rich medical histories, with an average of 5 examinations per linked recruit for the UA, and about 2.5 exams per USCT recruit. Census Data: Both early and late-age familial and socioeconomic information is collected from the manuscript schedules of the federal censuses of 1850, 1860, 1870 (incomplete), 1880, 1900, and 1910. Data Availability: All of the datasets (Military Union Army; linked Census; Surgeon''''s Certificates; Examination Records, and supporting ecological and environmental variables) are publicly available from ICPSR. In addition, copies on CD-ROM may be obtained from the CPE, which also maintains an interactive Internet Data Archive and Documentation Library, which can be accessed on the Project Website. * Dates of Study: 1850-1910 * Study Features: Longitudinal, Minority Oversamples * Sample Size: ** Union Army: 35,747 ** Colored Troops: 6,187 ** Examination Sample: 70,800 ICPSR Link: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06836

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex. Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below). Life expectancy data are available up to 2017. Due to changes in categories of race used in publications, data are not available for the black population consistently before 1968, and not at all before 1960. More information on historical data on age-adjusted death rates is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/hist293.htm. SOURCES CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov). REFERENCES National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

This dataset is a subset of relevant records drawn from the larger CSI:Dixie (CSI:D) database (https://csidixie.org/), an active digital project seeking to record and analyze causes of death as revealed in coroners’ inquisitions taken in the nineteenth-century American South. The “Database of Coroners’ Inquisitions Taken Over the Bodies of Enslaved, Formerly Enslaved, and Free Black Peoples” comprises the 5,394 cases in the CSI:D dataset in which the decedent's race is coded as “Black.” The vast majority of records were created between 1840 and 1900. CSI:D brings together records from three different archives and digital projects. The records for South Carolina are original to the project and were created by working directly from the original archival documents held at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. CSI:D’s Virginia records build upon an index of inquests originally created by the Library of Virginia’s “Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative” (http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/aan/). Finally, the Missouri records build upon an index of inquests originally created by the Missouri Digital Heritage’s “Coroner’s Inquest Database,” which includes records for several Missouri counties but strongly emphasizes the City of St. Louis (https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/Coroners/). Bringing these three datasets together, CSI:D standardized data conventions and coded every cause of death. Of the 1,199 cases where the deceased was enslaved at the time of death, 462 are recorded as fatal accidents, 341 as homicides, 202 as natural deaths, and 98 as suicides.

The variables contained in the data sets are primarily concerned with perinatal outcomes and maternal health. A number of variables with respect to the social and economic status of the mothers and their families were also included (ie. Occupation, Marital status, Region). While all nine data sets are centered around these common themes and hold many variables in common, each data set has a unique combination of variables. The types of fields are wide-ranging but are primarily concerned with infant birth, maternal health, and socioeconomic status. The clinical records of the Boston Lying-in inpatient and outpatient services, and those of the New England Hospital maternity unit, are housed in the Rare Book Room, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts. While the information found in these records varied somewhat from one hospital to the next, each set of records was consistent throughout the period under review. Four data bases were established, one consisting exclusively of white patients for each of the three clinics and one composed of all black patients from both services of the Boston Lying-in. The four sample populations were constituted in the following ways. The clinical records of the New England Hospital’s maternity clinic exist in continuous series from 1872 to 1900. All births were recorded because there were fewer than 200 deliveries annually. The patient registers of the Boston Lying-in inpatient service span the years 1886-1900, with a gap in 1893 and 1894. A random sample of 200 cases was chosen for each year. The same procedure was followed at the outpatient clinic, whose case files extend from 1884 to 1900, excepting those years in which all were recorded because fewer births occurred, and a short period when all cases were noted even though they totaled more than 200. Because the number of black patients was small, and because the birth weight experience of blacks was distinctive in some important respects, a fourth file was created consisting of all blacks in the Lying-in inpatient and outpatient records. The preliminary data bases consisted of 3480, 2503, 3654, and 373 cases, respectively. The birth weight means in the Lying-in inpatient sample are accurate to 79 grams, and those of the outpatient clinic sample to 65 grams, at the 95 percent confidence level.