NCHS VSRR: Quarterly Provisional Mortality Estimates by State and Age Group

Provisional estimates of death rates for leading causes of mortality in the United States. The data includes rates for 15 leading causes of death plus specific categories like drug overdose and homicide, broken down by state and age group. It is published quarterly by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) via the Vital Statistics Rapid Release (VSRR) program.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal mortality trends using Year and Quarter and Rate Type for specific causes like drug overdose.
• Compare state-level mortality disparities for causes like firearms-related deaths using columns like Rate Florida and Rate Ohio.
• Model age-specific mortality risk for causes like falls using columns like Rate Age 65-74 and Rate Age 75-84.

Strengths

• Includes provisional estimates for over 15 specific causes of death, including drug overdose and homicide.
• Provides granular breakdowns by state (e.g., Rate Kentucky, Rate New York) and multiple age groups (e.g., Rate Age 25-34, Rate Age 85 plus).
• Data is updated quarterly, with the last recorded update on 2026-04-02 14:11:28.

Limitations

• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) via data.cdc.gov.

Collection Method

Provisional estimates from the Vital Statistics Rapid Release (VSRR) program.

Freshness

Quarterly updates; last updated 2026-04-02 14:11:28.

Geography

United States, with state-level coverage indicated by columns like Rate Alabama and Rate Hawaii.