National Death Index

The National Death Index (NDI) is a computerized index of information compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) from death record information submitted to the NCHS by the state offices of vital statistics. This national file of death records contains a standard set of identifying information for each decedent, which includes first and last names, middle initial, father's surname, social security number, sex, race, date of birth, state of birth, state of residence, marital status, and age at death.

The NDI enables investigators to ascertain if the participants in their studies have died by matching the identifying information for an individual with the NDI database. The NDI Retrieval Program searches the NDI file to identify possible matches between a particular NDI death record and ...