RD152 - Office of the Chief Medical Examiner's Annual Report, 2014


Executive Summary:
This report represents the deaths investigated by the Virginia Department of Health, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, in 2014.

Data Collection and Preparation

The data in this report reflect deaths accepted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) pursuant to § 32.1-283 of the Code of Virginia for the 2014 calendar year. These deaths are both Virginia residents and non-residents whose deaths generally occurred within the borders of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Virginia OCME classifies these deaths by its own coding schema which differs from mortality data published by other OCME surveillance groups, law enforcement agencies, the Virginia Center for Health Statistics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, any discrepancies between data presented by the OCME and other nosology groups are the result of data collection and analytic variations among these groups.

Statistical Summary

• Data is based upon both Virginia residents and non-Virginia residents, whose deaths have come under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

• Rates

o Rates are per 100,000 persons of the specific Virginia population being described
o Crude rates are used for all deaths occurring in Virginia, regardless of residential status
o Rates calculated from small case counts (<5) are considered unreliable and should be interpreted with caution

• Race/Ethnicity

o Asian, Black, Native American, and White races represent those who have been identified as non-Hispanic ethnicity
o Hispanic are persons identified as White race with Hispanic ethnicity
o Other race are persons that are identified as more than one race and/or Hispanic ethnicity (excluding White)

• Toxicology

o Results are based on blood specimens and vitreous fluid