OBJECTIVES: To present the validation of a verbal autopsy (VA) tool using inpatient deaths in order to ultimately assess the burden of adult pre-hospital trauma mortality in Lilongwe, Malawi. METHODS: A WHO VA tool was administered at the Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) morgue in Lilongwe to family members of inpatient deceased. Two physicians assigned cause of death as 'trauma' or 'non-trauma' as well as a standard VA cause of death based on the VA tool. These assignments were compared to the 'gold standard' of physician review of hospital records using a kappa statistic. RESULTS: The VA method had near-perfect agreement with the hospital record in determining 'trauma' vs. 'non-trauma'. There was moderate agreement when comparing types of death, for example cardiovascular vs. infectious disease, and limited agreement when comparing specific causes of death. CONCLUSION: This VA tool can accurately ascertain trauma-related mortality with almost perfect agreement. The next step is to assess pre-hospital trauma mortality burden using the VA tool to determine whether hospital records underestimate the burden of trauma in the community.
OBJECTIVES: To present the validation of a verbal autopsy (VA) tool using inpatient deaths in order to ultimately assess the burden of adult pre-hospital trauma mortality in Lilongwe, Malawi. METHODS: A WHO VA tool was administered at the Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) morgue in Lilongwe to family members of inpatient deceased. Two physicians assigned cause of death as 'trauma' or 'non-trauma' as well as a standard VA cause of death based on the VA tool. These assignments were compared to the 'gold standard' of physician review of hospital records using a kappa statistic. RESULTS: The VA method had near-perfect agreement with the hospital record in determining 'trauma' vs. 'non-trauma'. There was moderate agreement when comparing types of death, for example cardiovascular vs. infectious disease, and limited agreement when comparing specific causes of death. CONCLUSION: This VA tool can accurately ascertain trauma-related mortality with almost perfect agreement. The next step is to assess pre-hospital trauma mortality burden using the VA tool to determine whether hospital records underestimate the burden of trauma in the community.
Authors: Mohammod Jobayer Chisti; Stephen M Graham; Trevor Duke; Tahmeed Ahmed; Abu Syed Golam Faruque; Hasan Ashraf; Pradip Kumar Bardhan; Abu S M S B Shahid; K M Shahunja; Mohammed Abdus Salam Journal: PLoS One Date: 2014-09-16 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Hong Thi Tran; Hoa Phuong Nguyen; Sue M Walker; Peter S Hill; Chalapati Rao Journal: BMC Med Res Methodol Date: 2018-05-18 Impact factor: 4.615