Resident

Community Data Profiles and MICAs are based solely on data for Missouri residents. Following are the definitions of residence used for each type of data file.

Death Data

Residence is the place (county) where the decedent lived most of the time (usual place of residence at the time of death), regardless of where the death took place. Missouri receives death certificates from other states for Missouri residents dying in those states. Temporary residence such as a visit, business trip or vacation is not considered usual place of residence. However, place of residence during a tour of military duty or attendance at college is counted as usual place of residence. If a person had been living in a long-term institution, nursing home or prison, this is considered usual place of residence.

Birth Data (live births, fetal deaths and infant deaths)

The same county of residence definition as used for deaths is applied to the mother. The child is considered to have the same residence as the mother. Missouri receives birth certificate data from other states for Missouri-resident births taking place in those states.

NOTE: The birth rate for a county containing a college may appear to be low because female college students are included in the county population when calculating the birth rate, even though few of them will become mothers while in college.

Hospital Data (inpatient hospitalizations, outpatient visits and emergency room visits)

For hospital data (inpatient/outpatient stays and emergency room visits), the county of residence is what was reported by the patient or informant when the patient was admitted. In some instances, the discharge has been identified as a Missouri resident, but the county of residence is unknown or missing. In those instances where the county is unknown, but the patient can be identified as a Missouri resident, the discharge is included in the statewide calculations but is not included in any counts for the individual Missouri counties or sub-geographic areas. Thus, for any given hospital data item, the sum of all county totals may be different from (less than) the reported statewide total in the MICA or Profile table.

The Department of Health and Senior Services receives information on Missouri residents who are hospitalized in some hospitals in Iowa, Kansas and parts of Illinois. Hospitalization data for Missouri counties near other state lines (and the Hannibal/Quincy area) need to be considered with particular caution, because the data from the bordering states may be incomplete or missing.

Infectious Disease Data

Deaths and hospitalizations use the same definition for county of residence given above for death data and hospital data.

Cases are counted in the county in which the person resides at the time of illness. Temporary residence such as a visit, business trip or vacation is not considered usual place of residence. However, place of residence during a tour of military duty or attendance at college is counted as usual place of residence except as noted below. If a person had been living in a long-term institution, nursing home or prison, this is considered usual place of residence except as noted below. Infectious diseases occurring in Missouri residents visiting other states are reported to Missouri and included in the data for the permanent county of residence.

Exceptions:

Injury Data

Deaths, inpatient hospitalizations and emergency room visits use the same definition for county of residence given above for death data and hospital data.