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Improving methods to measure comparable mortality cause (IMMCMC) gold standard verbal autopsy dataset

Riley H Hazard1, Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury2, Abraham D Flaxman3

  • 1School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia. riley.hazard@unimelb.edu.au.

BMC Research Notes
|November 24, 2021
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

This study provides crucial gold standard cause of death data from hospital records to enhance verbal autopsy (VA) methods. Researchers can use this de-identified data to improve the accuracy of diagnosing causes of death in areas with weak vital registration systems.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Medical Research

Background:

  • Accurate cause of death data is essential for improving public health strategies.
  • Verbal autopsy (VA) methods are vital for determining causes of death where civil registration systems are inadequate.
  • The Improving Methods to Measure Comparable Mortality by Cause (IMMCMC) study aimed to address these data limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide researchers with de-identified, clinicopathological criteria-based gold standard cause of death data.
  • To facilitate improvements in the diagnostic accuracy of verbal autopsy (VA) methods.
  • To support research in areas with poor vital registration systems.

Main Methods:

  • Data collected from a three-country study (Philippines, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea) between 2011 and 2014.
  • Matched verbal autopsies (VAs) with gold standard diagnoses derived from hospital record reviews.
  • Standardized VA questionnaire developed by the Population Health Metrics Consortium used.

Main Results:

  • A total of 3512 deaths were analyzed.
  • Data included 2491 adult deaths (≥12 years), 320 child deaths (28 days–12 years), and 702 neonatal deaths (0–27 days).
  • The dataset comprises gold standard cause of death information linked to VA data.

Conclusions:

  • The released de-identified dataset serves as a valuable resource for the research community.
  • This data can be instrumental in refining and validating verbal autopsy diagnostic algorithms.
  • Enhancing VA accuracy is critical for reliable mortality surveillance globally.
Keywords:
Cause of deathGold standardVerbal autopsy

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