Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Science Communicator Platform

Stay connected! Follow us on X network (Twitter):
Share this content! On (X network) By
Public Health Utility of Cause of Death Data: Applying Empirical Algorithms to Improve Data Quality Publisher Pubmed



Johnson SC1 ; Cunningham M1 ; Dippenaar IN1 ; Sharara F1 ; Wool EE1 ; Agesa KM1 ; Han C1 ; Millerpetrie MK2 ; Wilson S1 ; Fuller JE1 ; Balassyano S1 ; Bertolacci GJ1 ; Davis Weaver N1 ; Arabloo J3 Show All Authors
Authors
  1. Johnson SC1
  2. Cunningham M1
  3. Dippenaar IN1
  4. Sharara F1
  5. Wool EE1
  6. Agesa KM1
  7. Han C1
  8. Millerpetrie MK2
  9. Wilson S1
  10. Fuller JE1
  11. Balassyano S1
  12. Bertolacci GJ1
  13. Davis Weaver N1
  14. Arabloo J3
  15. Badawi A4, 5
  16. Bhagavathula AS6, 7
  17. Burkart K1, 8
  18. Camera LA9, 10
  19. Carvalho F11
  20. Castanedaorjuela CA12, 13
  21. Choi JYJ14
  22. Chu DT15
  23. Dai X1
  24. Dianatinasab M16, 17
  25. Emmonsbell S1
  26. Fernandes E18
  27. Fischer F19
  28. Ghashghaee A3, 20
  29. Golechha M21
  30. Hay SI1, 8
  31. Hayat K22, 23
  32. Henry NJ1, 24
  33. Holla R25
  34. Househ M26
  35. Ibitoye SE27
  36. Keramati M28
  37. Khan EA29
  38. Kim YJ30
  39. Kisa A31, 32
  40. Komaki H33, 34
  41. Koyanagi A35, 36
  42. Larson SL1
  43. Legrand KE1
  44. Liu X37
  45. Majeed A38
  46. Malekzadeh R39, 40
  47. Mohajer B41
  48. Mohammadianhafshejani A42
  49. Mohammadpourhodki R43
  50. Mohammed S44, 45
  51. Mohebi F41, 46
  52. Mokdad AH1, 8
  53. Molokhia M47
  54. Monasta L48
  55. Moni MA49
  56. Naveed M50
  57. Nguyen HLT51
  58. Olagunju AT52, 53
  59. Ostroff SM1, 54
  60. Kan FP55
  61. Pereira DM56
  62. Pham HQ51
  63. Rawaf S38, 57
  64. Rawaf DL58, 59
  65. Renzaho AMN60, 61
  66. Ronfani L48
  67. Samy AM62
  68. Senthilkumaran S63
  69. Sepanlou SG39, 40
  70. Shaikh MA64
  71. Shaw DH1
  72. Shibuya K65
  73. Singh JA66, 67
  74. Skryabin VY68
  75. Skryabina AA69
  76. Spurlock EE1
  77. Tadesse EG70
  78. Temsah MH71
  79. Tovanipalone MR72, 73
  80. Tran BX74
  81. Tsegaye GW75
  82. Valdez PR76, 77
  83. Vishwanath PM78
  84. Vu GT79
  85. Waheed Y80
  86. Yonemoto N81, 82
  87. Lozano R1, 8
  88. Lopez AD1, 8, 83
  89. Murray CJL1, 8
  90. Naghavi M1, 8, 84
Show Affiliations
Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
  2. 2. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
  3. 3. Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  4. 4. Public Health Risk Sciences Division, Public Health Agency of Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
  5. 5. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
  6. 6. Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Charles University, Hradec Kralova, Czech Republic
  7. 7. Institute of Public Health, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
  8. 8. Department of Health Metrics Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
  9. 9. Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  10. 10. Board of Directors, Argentine Society of Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  11. 11. Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences (UCIBIO), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  12. 12. Colombian National Health Observatory, National Institute of Health, Bogota, Colombia
  13. 13. Epidemiology and Public Health Evaluation Group, National University of Colombia, Bogota, Colombia
  14. 14. Biomedical Informatics, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea
  15. 15. Faculty of Biology, Hanoi National University of Education, Hanoi, Viet Nam
  16. 16. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran
  17. 17. Department of Epidemiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  18. 18. Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry (LAQV), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  19. 19. Institute of Gerontological Health Services and Nursing Research, Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences, Weingarten, Germany
  20. 20. Student Research Committee, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  21. 21. Health Systems and Policy Research, Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, India
  22. 22. Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
  23. 23. Department of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China
  24. 24. Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
  25. 25. Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
  26. 26. College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
  27. 27. Department of Health Promotion and Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  28. 28. Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
  29. 29. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Health Services Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan
  30. 30. School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen University Malaysia, Sepang, Malaysia
  31. 31. School of Health Sciences, Kristiania University College, Oslo, Norway
  32. 32. Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
  33. 33. Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
  34. 34. Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  35. 35. CIBERSAM, San Juan de Dios Sanitary Park, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain
  36. 36. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
  37. 37. Department of Systems, Populations, and Leadership, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
  38. 38. Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
  39. 39. Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  40. 40. Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  41. 41. Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  42. 42. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
  43. 43. Department of Nursing, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
  44. 44. Health Systems and Policy Research Unit, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
  45. 45. Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
  46. 46. National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  47. 47. Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  48. 48. Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Research Unit, Burlo Garofolo Institute for Maternal and Child Health, Trieste, Italy
  49. 49. World Health Organization (WHO) Centre on eHealth, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  50. 50. Department of Biotechnology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
  51. 51. Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University, Hanoi, Viet Nam
  52. 52. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
  53. 53. Department of Psychiatry, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
  54. 54. Henry M Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
  55. 55. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  56. 56. Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry (LAQV), University of Porto, Oporto, Portugal
  57. 57. Academic Public Health England, Public Health England, London, United Kingdom
  58. 58. WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
  59. 59. University College London Hospitals, London, United Kingdom
  60. 60. School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
  61. 61. Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
  62. 62. Department of Entomology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
  63. 63. Emergency Department, Manian Medical Centre, Erode, India
  64. 64. Independent Consultant, Karachi, Pakistan
  65. 65. Institute for Population Health, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  66. 66. School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
  67. 67. Medicine Service, US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Birmingham, AL, United States
  68. 68. Department No.16, Moscow Research and Practical Centre ON Addictions, Moscow, Russian Federation
  69. 69. Therapeutic Department, Balashiha Central Hospital, Balashikha, Russian Federation
  70. 70. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
  71. 71. Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  72. 72. Department of Pathology and Legal Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil
  73. 73. Modestum LTD, London, United Kingdom
  74. 74. Department of Health Economics, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Viet Nam
  75. 75. College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
  76. 76. Argentine Society of Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  77. 77. Velez Sarsfield Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  78. 78. Department of Biochemistry, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara University, Mysore, India
  79. 79. Center of Excellence in Behavioral Medicine, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
  80. 80. Foundation University Medical College, Foundation University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
  81. 81. Department of Neuropsychopharmacology, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan
  82. 82. Department of Public Health, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan
  83. 83. Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  84. 84. Department of Health Metrics Sciences, Director of Subnational Burden of Disease Estimation, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation School of Medicine, University of Washington, 2301 5th Ave. Suite 600, Seattle, 98121, WA, United States

Source: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making Published:2021


Abstract

Background: Accurate, comprehensive, cause-specific mortality estimates are crucial for informing public health decision making worldwide. Incorrectly or vaguely assigned deaths, defined as garbage-coded deaths, mask the true cause distribution. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has developed methods to create comparable, timely, cause-specific mortality estimates; an impactful data processing method is the reallocation of garbage-coded deaths to a plausible underlying cause of death. We identify the pattern of garbage-coded deaths in the world and present the methods used to determine their redistribution to generate more plausible cause of death assignments. Methods: We describe the methods developed for the GBD 2019 study and subsequent iterations to redistribute garbage-coded deaths in vital registration data to plausible underlying causes. These methods include analysis of multiple cause data, negative correlation, impairment, and proportional redistribution. We classify garbage codes into classes according to the level of specificity of the reported cause of death (CoD) and capture trends in the global pattern of proportion of garbage-coded deaths, disaggregated by these classes, and the relationship between this proportion and the Socio-Demographic Index. We examine the relative importance of the top four garbage codes by age and sex and demonstrate the impact of redistribution on the annual GBD CoD rankings. Results: The proportion of least-specific (class 1 and 2) garbage-coded deaths ranged from 3.7% of all vital registration deaths to 67.3% in 2015, and the age-standardized proportion had an overall negative association with the Socio-Demographic Index. When broken down by age and sex, the category for unspecified lower respiratory infections was responsible for nearly 30% of garbage-coded deaths in those under 1 year of age for both sexes, representing the largest proportion of garbage codes for that age group. We show how the cause distribution by number of deaths changes before and after redistribution for four countries: Brazil, the United States, Japan, and France, highlighting the necessity of accounting for garbage-coded deaths in the GBD. Conclusions: We provide a detailed description of redistribution methods developed for CoD data in the GBD; these methods represent an overall improvement in empiricism compared to past reliance on a priori knowledge. © 2021, The Author(s).
Experts (# of related papers)