This study compares death certificate designations to other methods of identifying Hispanics.
Three methods of identifying Hispanics—death certificate, U.S. census Spanish-surname list,
and a revised surname list—were applied to death certificates of the 1,516,465 White Califor
nians who died during 1987 through 1994. Data were compared using frequencies, rates, and
rate ratios (RR). Whether death certificate designation or the revised Spanish-surname list
identifies the most Hispanics depends on age, gender, and cause of death. RRs comparing
Hispanic and non-Hispanic Whites produce conflicting results for some groups. The most
discrepant RRs were for homicides of 15- to 34-year-old males. These findings illustrate how
ethnic differences in mortality are shaped by the method used to identify ethnicity. In the absence
of a gold standard for identifying persons of Hispanic ethnicity in official government records,
intermittent if not ongoing comparison of the available identification methods merits serious
consideration.
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