Capture-recapture methods in epidemiology are attempts to estimate or adjust for the extent of incomplete ascertainment using information from overlapping lists of cases from distinct sources. As the name implies, these methods have their antecedents in animal ecology, from which they draw their name. (A related earlier but not identical approach to population estimation was undertaken by LaPlace, as cited by Seber. Demographers often use the term "dual" (i.e., two-source) or "multiple record systems" to denote capture-recapture approaches to estimates of population size. Some other terms that have been used by epidemiologists or biostatisticians to describe estimates derived using these methods are "ascertainment corrected rates", "Bernoulli census" estimates, or "closed" or "open" population estimates, although technically the latter refer to the nature of the population being estimated, not to the methods used to estimate them. Thus, such methods appear in the literature under a variety of different terms. Consistent usage of the term "capture-recapture" instead of other terms could ensure that workers in all fields readily retrieve pertinent work in the literature. (Author/publisher)
Abstract