BACKGROUND: Information on causes of death is vital for planning of health services. However, vital events registration systems are weak in developing countries. Therefore, verbal autopsy (VA) tools were incorporated in a community-based surveillance system to track causes of death. METHOD AND FINDINGS: Trained fieldworker identified all deaths and interviewed a living relative of those who had died during 1992-2009, using VA, in eight villages of Haryana (11,864 populations). These field reports detailing events preceding death were reviewed by two trained physicians, who independently assigned an International Classification of Disease-10 code to each death. Discrepancies were resolved through reconciliation and, if necessary, adjudication. Non-communicable conditions were the leading causes of death (47.6%) followed by communicable diseases including maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions (34.0%), and injuries (11.4%). Cause of death could not be determined in 6.9% cases. Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases showed a significant rise, whereas deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases have declined (p<0.01). Majority (90.0%) of the deceased had contacted a healthcare provider during illness but only 11.5% were admitted in hospital before death. CONCLUSION: Rising trend of cardiovascular diseases observed in a rural community of Haryana in India calls for reorientation of rural healthcare delivery system for prevention and control of chronic diseases.
BACKGROUND: Information on causes of death is vital for planning of health services. However, vital events registration systems are weak in developing countries. Therefore, verbal autopsy (VA) tools were incorporated in a community-based surveillance system to track causes of death. METHOD AND FINDINGS: Trained fieldworker identified all deaths and interviewed a living relative of those who had died during 1992-2009, using VA, in eight villages of Haryana (11,864 populations). These field reports detailing events preceding death were reviewed by two trained physicians, who independently assigned an International Classification of Disease-10 code to each death. Discrepancies were resolved through reconciliation and, if necessary, adjudication. Non-communicable conditions were the leading causes of death (47.6%) followed by communicable diseases including maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions (34.0%), and injuries (11.4%). Cause of death could not be determined in 6.9% cases. Deaths due to cardiovascular diseases showed a significant rise, whereas deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases have declined (p<0.01). Majority (90.0%) of the deceased had contacted a healthcare provider during illness but only 11.5% were admitted in hospital before death. CONCLUSION: Rising trend of cardiovascular diseases observed in a rural community of Haryana in India calls for reorientation of rural healthcare delivery system for prevention and control of chronic diseases.
Authors: Christopher J L Murray; Rafael Lozano; Abraham D Flaxman; Peter Serina; David Phillips; Andrea Stewart; Spencer L James; Alireza Vahdatpour; Charles Atkinson; Michael K Freeman; Summer Lockett Ohno; Robert Black; Said Mohammed Ali; Abdullah H Baqui; Lalit Dandona; Emily Dantzer; Gary L Darmstadt; Vinita Das; Usha Dhingra; Arup Dutta; Wafaie Fawzi; Sara Gómez; Bernardo Hernández; Rohina Joshi; Henry D Kalter; Aarti Kumar; Vishwajeet Kumar; Marilla Lucero; Saurabh Mehta; Bruce Neal; Devarsetty Praveen; Zul Premji; Dolores Ramírez-Villalobos; Hazel Remolador; Ian Riley; Minerva Romero; Mwanaidi Said; Diozele Sanvictores; Sunil Sazawal; Veronica Tallo; Alan D Lopez Journal: BMC Med Date: 2014-01-09 Impact factor: 8.775
Authors: Momodou Jasseh; Stephen R C Howie; Pierre Gomez; Susana Scott; Anna Roca; Mamady Cham; Brian Greenwood; Tumani Corrah; Umberto D'Alessandro Journal: Glob Health Action Date: 2014-10-29 Impact factor: 2.640