Articles

The paradox of verbal autopsy in cause of death assignment: symptom question unreliability but predictive accuracy

We believe that it is important that governments understand the reliability of the mortality data which they have at their disposable to guide policy debates. In many instances, verbal autopsy (VA) will be the...

Authors: Peter Serina, Ian Riley, Bernardo Hernandez, Abraham D. Flaxman, Devarsetty Praveen, Veronica Tallo, Rohina Joshi, Diozele Sanvictores, Andrea Stewart, Meghan D. Mooney, Christopher J. L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez

What is the optimal recall period for verbal autopsies? Validation study based on repeat interviews in three populations

One key contextual feature in Verbal Autopsy (VA) is the time between death and survey administration, or recall period. This study quantified the effect of recall period on VA performance by using a paired da...

Authors: Peter Serina, Ian Riley, Bernardo Hernandez, Abraham D. Flaxman, Devarsetty Praveen, Veronica Tallo, Rohina Joshi, Diozele Sanvictores, Andrea Stewart, Meghan D. Mooney, Christopher J. L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez

Dynamic denominators: the impact of seasonally varying population numbers on disease incidence estimates

Reliable health metrics are crucial for accurately assessing disease burden and planning interventions. Many health indicators are measured through passive surveillance systems and are reliant on accurate esti...

Authors: Elisabeth zu Erbach-Schoenberg, Victor A. Alegana, Alessandro Sorichetta, Catherine Linard, Christoper Lourenço, Nick W. Ruktanonchai, Bonita Graupe, Tomas J. Bird, Carla Pezzulo, Amy Wesolowski and Andrew J. Tatem

The use of a lot quality assurance sampling methodology to assess and manage primary health interventions in conflict-affected West Darfur, Sudan

Organizations working in conflict-affected areas have a need to monitor and evaluate their programs, however this is often difficult due to the logistical challenges of conflict areas. Lot quality assurance sa...

Authors: Kiemanh Pham, Emily Chambers Sharpe, William M. Weiss and Alexander Vu

Ethnic differences in prevalence and risk factors for hypertension in the Suriname Health Study: a cross sectional population study

Limited information is available about the prevalence, ethnic disparities, and risk factors of hypertension within developing countries. We used data from a nationwide study on non-communicable disease (NCD) r...

Authors: Ingrid S. K. Krishnadath, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Lenny M. Nahar-van Venrooij and Jerry R. Toelsie

Infant mortality among the Canadian-born offspring of immigrants and non-immigrants in Canada: a population-based study

Adult immigrants in Canada have a survival advantage over their Canadian-born counterparts. It is unknown whether migrants are able to transmit their survival advantage to their Canadian-born children.

Authors: Zoua M. Vang

A feasibility study on using smartphones to conduct short-version verbal autopsies in rural China

Currently there are two main sources of mortality data with cause of death assignments in China. Both sources–the Ministry of Health-Vital Registration system and the Chinese Disease Surveillance Point system–...

Authors: Jing Zhang, Rohina Joshi, Jixin Sun, Samantha R. Rosenthal, Miao Tong, Cong Li, Rasika Rampatige, Meghan Mooney, Alan Lopez and Lijing L. Yan

Accuracy of self-reported height, weight, and waist circumference in a general adult Chinese population

Self-reported height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) are widely used to estimate the prevalence of obesity, which has been increasing rapidly in China, but there is limited evidence for the accuracy of s...

Authors: Shurong Lu, Jian Su, Quanyong Xiang, Jinyi Zhou and Ming Wu

Disparities in length of life across developed countries: measuring and decomposing changes over time within and between country groups

Over the past half century the global tendency for improvements in longevity has been uneven across countries. This has resulted in widening of inter-country disparities in life expectancy. Moreover, the patte...

Authors: Sergey Timonin, Vladimir M. Shkolnikov, Domantas Jasilionis, Pavel Grigoriev, Dmitry A. Jdanov and David A. Leon

Current tobacco use and its associated factors among adults in a country with comprehensive ban on tobacco: findings from the nationally representative STEPS survey, Bhutan, 2014

Despite a comprehensive ban on cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and sale of tobacco products since 2004, two nationwide surveys conducted in 2012 and 2013 reported high tobacco use in Bhutan. National H...

Authors: Mongal Singh Gurung, Dorji Pelzom, Tandin Dorji, Wangchuk Drukpa, Chador Wangdi, Palanivel Chinnakali and Sonu Goel

Socioeconomic status and self-rated health of Japanese people, based on age, cohort, and period

Differences in health resulting from differences in socioeconomic status (SES) have been identified around the world. Age, period, and cohort (A-P-C) differences in health are vital factors which are associate...

Authors: Hidehiro Sugisawa, Ken Harada, Yoko Sugihara, Shizuko Yanagisawa and Masaya Shinmei

Rapid assessment of disability in the Philippines: understanding prevalence, well-being, and access to the community for people with disabilities to inform the W-DARE project

International recognition that people with disabilities were excluded from the Millennium Development Goals has led to better inclusion of people with disabilities in the recently agreed Global Goals for Susta...

Authors: Manjula Marella, Alexandra Devine, Graeme Ferdinand Armecin, Jerome Zayas, Ma Jesusa Marco and Cathy Vaughan

Comparative approaches for assessing access to alcohol outlets: exploring the utility of a gravity potential approach

A growing body of research recommends controlling alcohol availability to reduce harm. Various common approaches, however, provide dramatically different pictures of the physical availability of alcohol. This ...

Authors: Tony H. Grubesic, Ran Wei, Alan T. Murray and William Alex Pridemore

Expansion or compression of long-term care in Germany between 2001 and 2009? A small-area decomposition study based on administrative health data

Studies state profound cross-country differences in healthy life years and its time trends, suggesting either the health scenario of expansion or compression of morbidity. A much-discussed question in public h...

Authors: Daniel Kreft and Gabriele Doblhammer

Future healthy life expectancy among older adults in the US: a forecast based on cohort smoking and obesity history

In the past three decades, the elderly population in the United States experienced increase in life expectancy (LE) and disability-free life expectancy (LE^ND), but decrease in life expectancy with disability (LE^D

Authors: Bochen Cao

Summarizing health-related quality of life (HRQOL): development and testing of a one-factor model

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a multi-dimensional concept commonly used to examine the impact of health status on quality of life. HRQOL is often measured by four core questions that asked about ge...

Authors: Shaoman Yin, Rashid Njai, Lawrence Barker, Paul Z. Siegel and Youlian Liao

Estimating average alcohol consumption in the population using multiple sources: the case of Spain

National estimates on per capita alcohol consumption are provided regularly by various sources and may have validity problems, so corrections are needed for monitoring and assessment purposes. Our objectives w...

Authors: Luis Sordo, Gregorio Barrio, María J. Bravo, Joan R. Villalbí, Albert Espelt, Montserrat Neira and Enrique Regidor

Changes in life expectancy 1950–2010: contributions from age- and disease-specific mortality in selected countries

Changes of life expectancy over time serve as an interesting public health indicator for medical, social and economic developments within populations. The aim of this study was to quantify changes of life expe...

Authors: Jochen Klenk, Ulrich Keil, Andrea Jaensch, Marcus C. Christiansen and Gabriele Nagel

Development of a metric for tracking and comparing population health based on the minimal generic set of domains of functioning and health

The following minimal set of valid health domains for tracking the health of both clinical and general populations has recently been proposed: 1) energy and drive functions, 2) emotional functions, 3) sensatio...

Authors: Cornelia Oberhauser, Somnath Chatterji, Carla Sabariego and Alarcos Cieza

Mental health and urban living in sub-Saharan Africa: major depressive episodes among the urban poor in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

In sub-Saharan African cities, the epidemiological transition has shifted a greater proportion of the burden of non-communicable diseases, including mental and behavioral disorder, to the adult population. The...

Authors: Géraldine Duthé, Clémentine Rossier, Doris Bonnet, Abdramane Bassiahi Soura and Jamaica Corker

Choosing an epidemiological model structure for the economic evaluation of non-communicable disease public health interventions

Non-communicable diseases are the leading global causes of mortality and morbidity. Growing pressures on health services and on social care have led to increasing calls for a greater emphasis to be placed on p...

Authors: Adam D. M. Briggs, Jane Wolstenholme, Tony Blakely and Peter Scarborough

Improving the measurement of maternal mortality in Thailand using multiple data sources

Thailand uses cause of death records in civil registration to summarize maternal mortality statistics. A report by the Department of Health using the Reproductive Age Mortality Studies (RAMOS) reported that th...

Authors: Worawan Chandoevwit, Phasith Phatchana, Kanjana Sirigomon, Kunakorn Ieawsuwan, Jutatip Thungthong and Saray Ruangdej

Temporal evolution of the risk factors associated with low birth weight rates in Brazilian capitals (1996-2011)

To analyze the trend of low birth weight (LBW) and its determinants in Brazilian state capitals between 1996 and 2011. We intended to determine which variables are associated with LBW during the period studied.

Authors: Viviane Costa de Souza Buriol, Vânia Hirakata, Marcelo Zubaran Goldani and Clécio Homrich da Silva

Improving the usefulness of US mortality data: new methods for reclassification of underlying cause of death

Mortality data are affected by miscertification of the medical cause of death deaths and changes to cause of death classification systems. We present both mappings of ICD9 and ICD10 to a unified list of causes...

Authors: Kyle J. Foreman, Mohsen Naghavi and Majid Ezzati

Health profile of centenarians in Portugal: a census-based approach

The number of centenarians is rapidly increasing in Europe. In Portugal, it has almost tripled over the last 10 years and constitutes one of the fastest-growing segments of the population. This paper aims to d...

Authors: Oscar Ribeiro, Laetitia Teixeira, Lia Araújo and Constança Paúl

Measuring and tracking obesity inequality in the United States: evidence from NHANES, 1971-2014

Because people care about their weight relative to peers and society, obesity inequality plays a role in explaining obesity incidence and the impacts of being obese on subjective well-being. While the increase...

Authors: Tae-Young Pak, Susana Ferreira and Gregory Colson

Erratum to: Estimation of country-specific and global prevalence of male circumcision

Authors: Brian J. Morris, Richard G. Wamai, Esther B. Henebeng, Aaron A. R. Tobian, Jeffrey D. Klausner, Joya Banerjee and Catherine A. Hankins

Social patterns and differentials in the fertility transition in the context of HIV/AIDS: evidence from population surveillance, rural South Africa, 1993 – 2013

Literature is limited on the effects of high prevalence HIV on fertility in the absence of treatment, and the effects of the introduction of sustained access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) on fertility. We su...

Authors: Brian Houle, Athena Pantazis, Chodziwadziwa Kabudula, Stephen Tollman and Samuel J. Clark

Multiple-bias analysis as a technique to address systematic error in measures of abortion-related mortality

The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have brought heightened global attention to the measurement of maternal mortality. It is imperative that new and novel approa...

Authors: Caitlin Gerdts and Jennifer Ahern

Identifying potential differences in cause-of-death coding practices across Russian regions

Reliable and comparable data on causes of death are crucial for public health analysis, but the usefulness of these data can be markedly diminished when the approach to coding is not standardized across territ...

Authors: Inna Danilova, Vladimir M. Shkolnikov, Dmitri A. Jdanov, France Meslé and Jacques Vallin

Causes of death in Vanuatu

The population of the Pacific Melanesian country of Vanuatu was 234,000 at the 2009 census. Apart from subsistence activities, economic activity includes tourism and agriculture. Current completeness of vital ...

Authors: Karen Carter, Viran Tovu, Jeffrey Tila Langati, Michael Buttsworth, Lester Dingley, Andy Calo, Griffith Harrison, Chalapati Rao, Alan D. Lopez and Richard Taylor

A novel method for estimating distributions of body mass index

Understanding trends in the distribution of body mass index (BMI) is a critical aspect of monitoring the global overweight and obesity epidemic. Conventional population health metrics often only focus on estim...

Authors: Marie Ng, Patrick Liu, Blake Thomson and Christopher J. L. Murray

Methods of applying the 1994 case definition of chronic fatigue syndrome – impact on classification and observed illness characteristics

Multiple case definitions are in use to identify chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Even when using the same definition, methods used to apply definitional criteria may affect results. The Centers for Disease Con...

Authors: E. R. Unger, J.-M. S. Lin, H. Tian, B. M. Gurbaxani, R. S. Boneva and J. F. Jones

Estimation of country-specific and global prevalence of male circumcision

Male circumcision (MC) status and genital infection risk are interlinked and MC is now part of HIV prevention programs worldwide. Current MC prevalence is not known for all countries globally. Our aim was to p...

Authors: Brian J Morris, Richard G Wamai, Esther B Henebeng, Aaron AR Tobian, Jeffrey D Klausner, Joya Banerjee and Catherine A Hankins

Mortality and life expectancy in Kiribati based on analysis of reported deaths

Kiribati is an atoll country of 103,058 (2010 Census) situated in the central Pacific. Previous mortality estimates have been derived from demographic analyses of census data. This is the first mortality analy...

Authors: Karen L. Carter, Tibwataake Baiteke, Tiensi Teea, Teanibuaka Tabunga, Mantarae Itienang, Chalapati Rao, Alan D. Lopez and Richard Taylor

Drug poisoning deaths in the United States, 1999–2012: a statistical adjustment analysis

Drug poisoning mortality in the US has risen rapidly but the drugs involved are frequently unspecified on death certificates.

Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm

Salt intakes in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-regression

High sodium intake increases the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. For this reason the World Health Organization recommends a maximum intake of 2 g per day and a 30 % reduction in population so...

Authors: Oyinlola Oyebode, Samuel Oti, Yen-Fu Chen and Richard J. Lilford

Application of space-time disease clustering by administrative databases in Italy: Adverse Reproductive Outcomes (AROs) and residential exposure

The aims of this study were to estimate the existence of clusters of AROs in the municipalities of the Marches Region (Central Italy) after complaints from residents living near an abandoned landfill site.

Authors: Pamela Barbadoro, Massimo Agostini, Marcello M. D’Errico, Francesco Di Stanislao, Fabio Filippetti, Sara Giuliani and Emilia Prospero

Validity of silhouette showcards as a measure of body size and obesity in a population in the African region: A practical research tool for general-purpose surveys

The purpose of this study is to validate the Pulvers silhouette showcard as a measure of weight status in a population in the African region. This tool is particularly beneficial when scarce resources do not a...

Authors: Maryam Yepes, Barathi Viswanathan, Pascal Bovet and Jürgen Maurer

Small area synthetic estimates of smoking prevalence during pregnancy in England

Complete and accurate data on maternal smoking prevalence during pregnancy are not available at a local geographical scale in England. We employ a synthetic estimation approach to predict the expected prevalen...

Authors: Lisa Szatkowski, Samantha J. Fahy, Tim Coleman, Joanna Taylor, Liz Twigg, Graham Moon and Jo Leonardi-Bee

Population aging, macroeconomic changes, and global diabetes prevalence, 1990–2008

Diabetes is an important contributor to global morbidity and mortality. The contributions of population aging and macroeconomic changes to the growth in diabetes prevalence over the past 20 years are unclear.

Authors: Nikkil Sudharsanan, Mohammed K. Ali, Neil K. Mehta and K M Venkat Narayan

Rural-urban differentials in pregnancy-related mortality in Zambia: estimates using data collected in a census

The use of census data to measure maternal mortality is a recent phenomenon, implemented in settings with non-functional vital registration systems and driven by needs for trend data. The 2010 round of populat...

Authors: Richard Banda, Knut Fylkesnes and Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy

Estimating distributions of health state severity for the global burden of disease study

Many major causes of disability in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study present with a range of severity, and for most causes finding population distributions of severity can be difficult due to issues of ...

Authors: Roy Burstein, Tom Fleming, Juanita Haagsma, Joshua A. Salomon, Theo Vos and Christopher JL. Murray

Smoking, smoking cessation, and 7-year mortality in a cohort of Thai adults

Smoking is a strong risk factor for mortality in both the developed and the developing world. However, there is still limited research to examine the impact of smoking cessation and mortality in middle-income ...

Authors: Jiaying Zhao, Cha-aim Pachanee, Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan, Sam-ang Seubsman and Adrian Sleigh

Projected growth of the adult congenital heart disease population in the United States to 2050: an integrative systems modeling approach

Mortality for children with congenital heart disease (CHD) has declined with improved surgical techniques and neonatal screening; however, as these patients live longer, accurate estimates of the prevalence of...

Authors: Catherine P. Benziger, Karen Stout, Elisa Zaragoza-Macias, Amelia Bertozzi-Villa and Abraham D. Flaxman

Measuring causes of death in populations: a new metric that corrects cause-specific mortality fractions for chance

Verbal autopsy is gaining increasing acceptance as a method for determining the underlying cause of death when the cause of death given on death certificates is unavailable or unreliable, and there are now a n...

Authors: Abraham D. Flaxman, Peter T. Serina, Bernardo Hernandez, Christopher J. L. Murray, Ian Riley and Alan D. Lopez

Validation of a new predictive risk model: measuring the impact of the major modifiable risks of death for patients and populations

Modifiable risks account for a large fraction of disease and death, but clinicians and patients lack tools to identify high risk populations or compare the possible benefit of different interventions.

Authors: Stephen S. Lim, Emily Carnahan, Eugene C. Nelson, Catherine W. Gillespie, Ali H. Mokdad, Christopher J. L. Murray and Elliott S. Fisher

The importance of regional availability of health care for old age survival - Findings from German reunification

This article investigates the importance of regional health care availability for old age survival. Using German reunification as a natural experiment, we show that spatial variation in health care in East Ger...

Authors: Tobias C. Vogt and James W. Vaupel

Estimating the current mean age of mothers at the birth of their first child from household surveys

Estimates of the period mean age at first birth are readily available for countries with accurate vital statistics (i.e., in much of the developed world). In contrast, in most developing countries vital statis...

Authors: John Bongaarts and Ann K. Blanc

The Population Health Model (POHEM): an overview of rationale, methods and applications

The POpulation HEalth Model (POHEM) is a health microsimulation model that was developed at Statistics Canada in the early 1990s. POHEM draws together rich multivariate data from a wide range of sources to sim...

Authors: Deirdre A. Hennessy, William M. Flanagan, Peter Tanuseputro, Carol Bennett, Meltem Tuna, Jacek Kopec, Michael C. Wolfson and Douglas G. Manuel