VitalStatus

This element can be used to report whether the individual is living or dead at the timepoint when the phenopacket was created (or if the status is unknown).

Data model

Definition of the `VitalStatus` element
Field	Type	Multiplicity	Description
status	Status	1..1	one of UNKNOWN_STATUS, ALIVE, DECEASED. REQUIRED.
time_of_death	TimeElement	0..1	Should be left blank if patient not known to be deceased
cause_of_death	OntologyClass	0..1	Should be left blank if patient not known to be deceased
survival_time_in_days	integer	0..1	Number of days the patient was alive after their primary diagnosis

The vital status is commonly collected in cohort studies on cancer.

The following shows how the element can be used to report the time and cause of death.

Status

Name	Ordinal	Description
UNKNOWN_STATUS	0	Not assessed or not available.
ALIVE	1	Alive. Maps to NCIT:C37987
DECEASED	2	Dead. Maps to NCIT:C28554

vitalStatus:
    status: "DECEASED"
    timeOfDeath:
        timestamp: "2015-10-01T10:54:20.021Z"
    causeOfDeath:
        id: "NCIT:C36263"
        label: "Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm"

The following element should be used to report the individual is alive.

vitalStatus:
    status: "ALIVE"

In practice, this element is useful in cohort studies in which the association of some treatment or genetic variation is compared with mortality. For many other applications, it may not be necessary to use a VitalStatus element.