Evaluation of death certificate-based surveillance for traumatic brain injury--Oklahoma 2002.

Objectives: Death certificate data are used to estimate state and national incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related deaths. This study evaluated the accuracy of this estimate in Oklahoma and examined the case characteristics of those persons who experienced a TBI-related death but whose death certificate did not reflect a TBI.

Methods: Data from Oklahoma's vital statistics multiple-cause-of-death database and from the Oklahoma Injury Surveillance System database were analyzed for TBI deaths that occurred during 2002.