The Bremen Mortality Index (BreMI) is an electronic database providing all information recorded on death certificates of Bremen citizens who have died since 01.01.1998.
BreMI is based on the law of the Bremen Cancer Registry and follows the example of the National Death Index (NDI) in the USA, which provides information on the vital status of US citizens and causes of death since 1979.

Applications of the Bremen Mortality Index:

• Data source for the Bremen Cancer registry

It facilitates the automated identification of death certificates with cancer as an underlying disease or concomitant disease. This important information allows cancer registries to identify Death Certificate Only-Cases (DCO) and to follow-up on the vital status of persons already registered with cancer.

• Mortality follow-up for cohort studies

BreMI provides information on the vital status and if applicable on the cause of death (according to ICD-10) for cohort members who live in the federal state of Bremen.

• Data source for automated coding of cause of death

Up to now, the coding of the underlying cause of death is done manually in Germany by encoders of the regional bureau of statistics. Data linkage of the official ICD-10 Code of the regional bureau of statistics to the clear text on the death certificate by the BreMI provides important information for a thesaurus of diagnoses.

• Data source for an automated selection of the underlying cause of death based on death certificates

ICD-codes and their location on the death certificate, as provided by BreMI, could contribute to a German thesaurus for an automated coding of the underlying cause of death analogous to the American ACME-Programme (Automated Coding of Medical Entities).

Funding period

Beginn:   Januar 1998
Ende:   laufend

Sponsor

• Senator for Health, Women and Consumer Protection of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen