Assessment of vital statistics and surveillance data for monitoring tetanus mortality, United States, 1979―1984

During 1979-1984, 74-95 cases of tetanus were reported annually to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and 20-31 deaths were reported annually by the National Center for Health Statistics. We compared tetanus mortality data collected by CDS and by NCHS, evaluated the degree of underreporting to either system, and estimated the true magnitude of tetanus mortality in the United States. We reviewed tetanus death certificates from individual states to determine reasons for failure to report tetanus deaths. In addition, the reporting efficiency for some states to CDC was assessed