Articles

Cause of death coding in Switzerland: evaluation based on a nationwide individual linkage of mortality and hospital in-patient records

Cause of death statistics are an important tool for quality control of the health care system. Their reliability, however, is controversial. Comparing death certificates with their corresponding medical record...

Authors: Ueli Zellweger, Christoph Junker and Matthias Bopp

Potential gains in health expectancy by improving lifestyle: an application for European regions

Prevention aiming at smoking, alcohol consumption, and BMI could potentially bring large gains in life expectancy (LE) and health expectancy measures such as Healthy Life Years (HLY) and Life Expectancy in Goo...

Authors: Koen Füssenich, Wilma J. Nusselder, Stefan K. Lhachimi, Hendriek C. Boshuizen and Talitha F. Feenstra

Assessing the quality of medical death certification: a case study of concordance between national statistics and results from a medical record review in a regional hospital in the Philippines

Medical certificates of cause of death (MCCOD) issued by hospital physicians are a key input to vital registration systems. Deaths certified by hospital physicians have been implicitly considered to be of high...

Authors: Marilla Lucero, Ian Douglas Riley, Riley H. Hazard, Diozele Sanvictores, Veronica Tallo, Dorothy Gay Marmita Dumaluan, Juanita M. Ugpo and Alan D. Lopez

Health status in a transitional society: urban-rural disparities from a dynamic perspective in China

The phenomenon of urban-rural segmentation has emerged and is remarkable, and the health disparities between rural and urban China should be stressed.

Authors: Junfeng Jiang and Peigang Wang

How useful are registered birth statistics for health and social policy? A global systematic assessment of the availability and quality of birth registration data

The registration and certification of births has a wide array of individual and societal benefits. While near-universal in some parts of the world, birth registration is less common in many low- and middle-inc...

Authors: David E. Phillips, Tim Adair and Alan D. Lopez

Injury death certificates without specification of the circumstances leading to the fatal injury – the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry 2005–2014

For injury deaths, the underlying cause of death is defined as the circumstances leading to the injury. When this information is missing, the ICD-10 code X59 (Exposure to unspecified factor) is used. Lack of k...

Authors: Christian Lycke Ellingsen, Marta Ebbing, G. Cecilie Alfsen and Stein Emil Vollset

Evaluation of stability of directly standardized rates for sparse data using simulation methods

Directly standardized rates (DSRs) adjust for different age distributions in different populations and enable, say, the rates of disease between the populations to be directly compared. They are routinely publ...

Authors: Joan K. Morris, Joachim Tan, Paul Fryers and Jonathan Bestwick

Quantifying temporal trends of age-standardized rates with odds

To quantify temporal trends in age-standardized rates of disease, the convention is to fit a linear regression model to log-transformed rates because the slope term provides the estimated annual percentage cha...

Authors: Chuen Seng Tan, Nathalie Støer, Yilin Ning, Ying Chen and Marie Reilly

The present and future burden of previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by histology and line of therapy in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain: model-based predictions

The burden of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not well understood, and the number of patients likely to receive treatment in Europe has not been quantified. The aim of this study was to forecast...

Authors: David Campbell, Ken O’Day, Nadine Hertel, John R. Penrod, Melinda Manley Daumont and Michael Lees

Hospital mortality statistics in Tanzania: availability, accessibility, and quality 2006–2015

Accurate and reliable hospital information on the pattern and causes of death is important to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of health policies and programs. The objective of this study was to assess t...

Authors: Irene R. Mremi, Susan F. Rumisha, Mercy G. Chiduo, Chacha D. Mangu, Denna M. Mkwashapi, Coleman Kishamawe, Emanuel P. Lyimo, Isolide S. Massawe, Lucas E. Matemba, Veneranda M. Bwana and Leonard E. G. Mboera

Improving program targeting to combat early-life mortality by identifying high-risk births: an application to India

It is widely recognized that there are multiple risk factors for early-life mortality. In practice most interventions to curb early-life mortality target births based on a single risk factor, such as poverty. ...

Authors: Antonio P. Ramos, Robert E. Weiss and Jody S. Heymann

Head-to-head comparison between the EQ-5D-5L and the EQ-5D-3L in general population health surveys

The EQ-5D has been frequently used in national health surveys. This study is a head-to-head comparison to assess how expanding the number of levels from three (EQ-5D-3L) to five in the new EQ-5D-5L version has...

Authors: Marc Martí-Pastor, Angels Pont, Mónica Ávila, Olatz Garin, Gemma Vilagut, Carlos G. Forero, Yolanda Pardo, Ricard Tresserras, Antonia Medina-Bustos, Oriol Garcia-Codina, Juan Cabasés, Luis Rajmil, Jordi Alonso and Montse Ferrer

Small area estimation of under-5 mortality in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chad, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia using spatially misaligned data

The under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) is an important metric of child health and survival. Country-level estimates of U5MR are readily available, but efforts to estimate U5MR subnationally have been limited, in pa...

Authors: Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Ellen R. Squires, Stephanie Teeple, Gloria Ikilezi, D. Allen Roberts, Danny V. Colombara, Sarah Katherine Allen, Stanley M. Kamande, Nicholas Graetz, Abraham D. Flaxman, Charbel El Bcheraoui, Kristjana Asbjornsdottir, Gilbert Asiimwe, Ângelo Augusto, Orvalho Augusto, Baltazar Chilundo…

Linkage of national soil quality measurements to primary care medical records in England and Wales: a new resource for investigating environmental impacts on human health

Long-term, low-level exposure to toxic elements in soil may be harmful to human health but large longitudinal cohort studies with sufficient follow-up time to study these effects are cost-prohibitive and impra...

Authors: Jack E. Gibson, E. Louise Ander, Mark Cave, Fiona Bath-Hextall, Anwar Musah and Jo Leonardi-Bee

Estimating program coverage in the treatment of severe acute malnutrition: a comparative analysis of the validity and operational feasibility of two methods

Many health programs can assess coverage using standardized cluster survey methods, but estimating the coverage of nutrition programs presents a special challenge due to low disease prevalence. Used since 2012...

Authors: Sheila Isanaka, Bethany L. Hedt-Gauthier, Rebecca F. Grais and Ben G. S. Allen

Comparing tariff and medical assistant assigned causes of death from verbal autopsy interviews in Matlab, Bangladesh: implications for a health and demographic surveillance system

Deaths in developing countries often occur outside health facilities, making it extremely difficult to gather reliable cause of death (COD) information. Automated COD assignment using a verbal autopsy instrume...

Authors: Riley H. Hazard, Nurul Alam, Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury, Tim Adair, Saidul Alam, Peter Kim Streatfield, Ian Douglas Riley and Alan D. Lopez

Projection of the future diabetes burden in the United States through 2060

In the United States, diabetes has increased rapidly, exceeding prior predictions. Projections of the future diabetes burden need to reflect changes in incidence, mortality, and demographics. We applied the mo...

Authors: Ji Lin, Theodore J. Thompson, Yiling J. Cheng, Xiaohui Zhuo, Ping Zhang, Edward Gregg and Deborah B. Rolka

Matrix methods in health demography: a new approach to the stochastic analysis of healthy longevity and DALYs

Increases in human longevity have made it critical to distinguish healthy longevity from longevity without regard to health. Current methods focus on expectations of healthy longevity, and are often limited to...

Authors: Hal Caswell and Virginia Zarulli

Life expectancy inequalities in the elderly by socioeconomic status: evidence from Italy

Life expectancy considerably increased in most developed countries during the twentieth century. However, the increase in longevity is neither uniform nor random across individuals belonging to various socioec...

Authors: Carlo Lallo and Michele Raitano

The relevance of spatial aggregation level and of applied methods in the analysis of geographical distribution of cancer mortality in mainland Portugal (2009–2013)

Knowledge regarding the geographical distribution of diseases is essential in public health in order to define strategies to improve the health of populations and quality of life.

Authors: Rita Roquette, Baltazar Nunes and Marco Painho

Health system strategies to increase HIV screening among pregnant women in Mesoamerica

To propose health system strategies to meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on HIV screening through antenatal care (ANC) services, we assessed predictors of HIV screening, and simulated...

Authors: Charbel El Bcheraoui, Paola Zúñiga-Brenes, Diego Ríos-Zertuche, Erin B. Palmisano, Claire R. McNellan, Sima S. Desai, Marielle C. Gagnier, Annie Haakenstad, Casey Johanns, Alexandra Schaefer, Bernardo Hernandez, Emma Iriarte and Ali H. Mokdad

Epidemiological trends of sepsis in the twenty-first century (2000–2013): an analysis of incidence, mortality, and associated costs in Spain

Sepsis has represented a substantial health care and economic burden worldwide during the previous several decades. Our aim was to analyze the epidemiological trends of hospital admissions, deaths, hospital re...

Authors: Alejandro Álvaro-Meca, María A. Jiménez-Sousa, Dariela Micheloud, Ainhoa Sánchez-Lopez, María Heredia-Rodríguez, Eduardo Tamayo and Salvador Resino

Collecting verbal autopsies: improving and streamlining data collection processes using electronic tablets

There is increasing interest in using verbal autopsy to produce nationally representative population-level estimates of causes of death. However, the burden of processing a large quantity of surveys collected ...

Authors: Abraham D. Flaxman, Andrea Stewart, Jonathan C. Joseph, Nurul Alam, Sayed Saidul Alam, Hafizur Chowdhury, Meghan D. Mooney, Rasika Rampatige, Hazel Remolador, Diozele Sanvictores, Peter T. Serina, Peter Kim Streatfield, Veronica Tallo, Christopher J. L. Murray, Bernardo Hernandez, Alan D. Lopez…

Alcohol-impaired driving in US counties, 2002–2012

Excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-impaired driving remain significant public health problems, leading to considerable morbidity and mortality, particularly among younger populations.

Authors: Jacob E. Sunshine, Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Alan Chen, Sam R. Sharar, Erin B. Palmisano, Eileen M. Bulger and Ali H. Mokdad

Calculating census tract-based life expectancy in New York state: a generalizable approach

Life expectancy at birth (LE) has been calculated for states and counties. LE estimates at these levels mask health disparities in local communities. There are no nationwide estimates at the sub-county level. ...

Authors: Thomas O. Talbot, Douglas H. Done and Gwen D. Babcock

Multivariable regression analysis of list experiment data on abortion: results from a large, randomly-selected population based study in Liberia

The list experiment is a promising measurement tool for eliciting truthful responses to stigmatized or sensitive health behaviors. However, investigators may be hesitant to adopt the method due to previously u...

Authors: Heidi Moseson, Caitlin Gerdts, Christine Dehlendorf, Robert A. Hiatt and Eric Vittinghoff

Cause-specific mortality for 249 causes in Brazil and states during 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2015

Reliable data on cause of death (COD) are fundamental for planning and resource allocation priorities. We used GBD 2015 estimates to examine levels and trends for the leading causes of death in Brazil from 199...

Authors: Elisabeth B. França, Valéria Maria de Azeredo Passos, Deborah Carvalho Malta, Bruce B. Duncan, Antonio Luiz P. Ribeiro, Mark D. C. Guimarães, Daisy M.X. Abreu, Ana Maria N. Vasconcelos, Mariângela Carneiro, Renato Teixeira, Paulo Camargos, Ana Paula S. Melo, Bernardo L. Queiroz, Maria Inês Schmidt, Lenice Ishitani, Roberto Marini Ladeira…

The contribution of area-level walkability to geographic variation in physical activity: a spatial analysis of 95,837 participants from the 45 and Up Study living in Sydney, Australia

Individual-level studies support a positive relation between walkable built environments and participation in moderate-intensity walking. However, the utility of this evidence for population-level planning is ...

Authors: Darren J. Mayne, Geoffrey G. Morgan, Bin B. Jalaludin and Adrian E. Bauman

The incomparability of cause of death statistics under “one country, two systems”: Shanghai versus Hong Kong

Valid and comparable cause of death (COD) statistics are crucial for health policy analyses. Variations in COD assignment across geographical areas are well-documented while socio-institutional factors may aff...

Authors: Jiaying Zhao, Edward Jow-Ching Tu and Chi-kin Law

Impact of HPV vaccination: health gains in the Italian female population

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the leading cause of cervical cancer and other malignant and benign neoplastic lesions. HPV vaccination has three potential goals: to prevent transmission, infection, and disease....

Authors: Andrea Marcellusi

The effects of economic development and built environment on diabetes in China

With rapid economy growth, the prevalence of obesity, and related chronic diseases, has increased greatly. Although this has been widely recognized, little attention has been paid to the influence of built env...

Authors: Tao Zhang

Myanmar mortality registration: an assessment for system improvement

The vital registration system in Myanmar has a long history and geographical coverage is currently high. However, a recent assessment of vital registration systems of 148 countries showed poor performance of t...

Authors: Myitzu Tin Oung, Kerry Richter, Pramote Prasartkul and Viroj Tangcharoensathien

Estimating the contribution of mortality selection to the East–West German mortality convergence

Before German reunification, old-age mortality was considerably higher in East Germany than West Germany but converged quickly afterward. Previous studies attributed this rapid catch-up to improved living cond...

Authors: Tobias C. Vogt and Trifon I. Missov

Increases in United States life expectancy through reductions in injury-related death

During the previous century the average lifespan in the United States (US) increased by over 30 years, with much of this increase attributed to public health initiatives. This report examines further gains tha...

Authors: Scott R. Kegler, Grant T. Baldwin, Rose A. Rudd and Michael F. Ballesteros

Erratum to: on the plausibility of socioeconomic mortality estimates derived from linked data: a demographic approach

Authors: Mathias Lerch, Adrian Spoerri, Domantas Jasilionis and Francisco Viciana Fernandèz

Erratum to: Evolution of the “fourth stage” of epidemiologic transition in people aged 80 years and over: population-based cohort study using electronic health records

Authors: Nisha C. Hazra and Martin Gulliford

National mortality burden due to communicable, non-communicable, and other diseases in Ethiopia, 1990–2015: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Ethiopia lacks a complete vital registration system that would assist in measuring disease burden and risk factors. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015) estim...

Authors: Awoke Misganaw, Tilahun N. Haregu, Kebede Deribe, Gizachew Assefa Tessema, Amare Deribew, Yohannes Adama Melaku, Azmeraw T. Amare, Semaw Ferede Abera, Molla Gedefaw, Muluken Dessalegn, Yihunie Lakew, Tolesa Bekele, Mesoud Mohammed, Biruck Desalegn Yirsaw, Solomon Abrha Damtew, Kristopher J. Krohn…

National disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 257 diseases and injuries in Ethiopia, 1990–2015: findings from the global burden of disease study 2015

Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) provide a summary measure of health and can be a critical input to guide health systems, investments, and priority-setting in Ethiopia. We aimed to determine the leading ...

Authors: Awoke Misganaw, Yohannes Adama Melaku, Gizachew Assefa Tessema, Amare Deribew, Kebede Deribe, Semaw Ferede Abera, Muluken Dessalegn, Yihunie Lakew, Tolesa Bekele, Tilahun N. Haregu, Azmeraw T. Amare, Molla Gedefaw, Mesoud Mohammed, Biruck Desalegn Yirsaw, Solomon Abrha Damtew, Tom Achoki…

Tuberculosis and HIV are the leading causes of adult death in northwest Ethiopia: evidence from verbal autopsy data of Dabat health and demographic surveillance system, 2007–2013

Reliable data on causes of death form the basis for building evidence on health policy, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In Ethiopia, the majority of deaths occur at home and civil registration systems ar...

Authors: Yigzaw Kebede, Gashaw Andargie, Abebaw Gebeyehu, Tadesse Awoke, Mezgebu Yitayal, Solomon Mekonnen, Mamo Wubshet, Temesgen Azmeraw, Yihunie Lakew and Kassahun Alemu

On the plausibility of socioeconomic mortality estimates derived from linked data: a demographic approach

Reliable estimates of mortality according to socioeconomic status play a crucial role in informing the policy debate about social inequality, social cohesion, and exclusion as well as about the reform of pensi...

Authors: Mathias Lerch, Adrian Spoerri, Domantas Jasilionis and Francisco Viciana Fernandèz

Mortality trends in Australian Aboriginal peoples and New Zealand Māori

The health status of Indigenous populations of Australia and New Zealand (NZ) Māori manifests as life expectancies substantially lower than the total population. Accurate assessment of time trends in mortality...

Authors: Bronwen Phillips, John Daniels, Alistair Woodward, Tony Blakely, Richard Taylor and Stephen Morrell

Choice of relative or cause-specific approach to cancer survival analysis impacts estimates differentially by cancer type, population, and application: evidence from a Canadian population-based cohort study

Cause-specific (CS) and net survival in a relative survival framework (RS) are two of the most common methods for estimating cancer survival. In this paper, we assess the differences in results produced by two...

Authors: Diana R. Withrow, Jason D. Pole, E. Diane Nishri, Michael Tjepkema and Loraine D. Marrett

Comparing trends in mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer in the United Kingdom, 1983–2013: joinpoint regression analysis

We aimed to study the time trends underlying a change from cardiovascular disease (CVD) to cancer as the most common cause of age-standardized mortality in the UK between 1983 and 2013.

Authors: Lauren Wilson, Prachi Bhatnagar and Nick Townsend

Trend and causes of adult mortality in Kersa health and demographic surveillance system (Kersa HDSS), eastern Ethiopia: verbal autopsy method

The health problems of adults have been neglected in many developing countries, yet many studies in these countries show high rates of premature mortality in adults. Measuring adult mortality and its cause thr...

Authors: Wondimye Ashenafi, Frehywot Eshetu, Nega Assefa, Lemessa Oljira, Melkamu Dedefo, Desalew Zelalem, Negga Baraki and Melake Demena

Impact of rural family physician program on child mortality rates in Iran: a time-series study

The rural family physician program and social protection scheme were started in Iran about 10 years ago, and no comprehensive study has been carried out to investigate the effects of this program on mortality-...

Authors: Shohreh Naderimagham, Hamidreza Jamshidi, Alireza Khajavi, Farhad Pishgar, Ali Ardam, Bagher Larijani, Zohreh Mahmoudi, Alireza Jeddian, Hamid Reza Bahrami-Taghanaki and Farshad Farzadfar

Quantifying the global contribution of alcohol consumption to cardiomyopathy

The global impact of alcohol consumption on deaths due to cardiomyopathy (CM) has not been quantified to date, even though CM contains a subcategory for alcoholic CM with an effect of heavy drinking over time ...

Authors: Jakob Manthey, Sameer Imtiaz, Maria Neufeld, Margaret Rylett and Jürgen Rehm

Multiple cause-of-death data among people with AIDS in Italy: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Multiple cause-of-death (MCOD) data allow analyzing the contribution to mortality of conditions reported on the death certificate that are not selected as the underlying cause of death. Using MCOD data, this s...

Authors: Enrico Grande, Antonella Zucchetto, Barbara Suligoi, Francesco Grippo, Marilena Pappagallo, Saverio Virdone, Laura Camoni, Martina Taborelli, Vincenza Regine, Diego Serraino and Luisa Frova

Evolution of the “fourth stage” of epidemiologic transition in people aged 80 years and over: population-based cohort study using electronic health records

In the “fourth stage” of epidemiological transition, the distribution of non-communicable diseases is expected to shift to more advanced ages, but age-specific changes beyond 80 years of age have not been repo...

Authors: Nisha C. Hazra and Martin Gulliford

Adult mortality of diseases and injuries attributable to selected metabolic, lifestyle, environmental, and infectious risk factors in Taiwan: a comparative risk assessment

To facilitate priority-setting in health policymaking, we compiled the best available information to estimate the adult mortality (>30 years) burden attributable to 13 metabolic, lifestyle, infectious, and env...

Authors: Wei-Cheng Lo, Chu-Chang Ku, Shu-Ti Chiou, Chang-Chuan Chan, Chi‐Ling Chen, Mei-Shu Lai and Hsien-Ho Lin

Self-reported general health, physical distress, mental distress, and activity limitation by US county, 1995-2012

Metrics based on self-reports of health status have been proposed for tracking population health and making comparisons among different populations. While these metrics have been used in the US to explore disp...

Authors: Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Johan P. Mackenbach, Frank J. van Lenthe and Ali H. Mokdad