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

[Diseases of the nervous system as the underlying cause of death]

OBJECTIVE

To identify the leading causes of death in the adult population from the class of diseases of the nervous system (DNS, class G) according to medical death certificates (MDC) and to discuss the problems of their assessment.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The source of information was the electronic database of the Main Department of the Civil Registry Office of the Moscow Region. All cases of class G deaths were selected (total 10.739), an analysis was carried out according to underlying cause of death (UCD) codes and the immediate cause of death.

RESULTS

In 2022, mortality from diseases included in the DNS amounted to 130.7 per 100 000 of the population over 18 years old (100.3 among men, 191.0 among women). The average age of men is 74.3±14.1, women - 83.5±9.9 years (p<0.0001) due to the younger age of death of men from «G31.2 Degeneration of the nervous system caused by alcohol» and a higher contribution of this cause to male mortality; 82.5% of deaths were for codes G90-G99 («Other disorders of the nervous system»); 15.5% were neurodegenerative diseases (G10-G32). Sixty-six percent of all UCD in both women and men accounted for «unspecified encephalopathy» (G93.4), in 2nd place (10.5%) was «cerebral cyst» (G93.0). In 45 cases, code G93.6 (cerebral edema) was mistakenly used as UCD. Differences in the structure of causes of death at home, in hospital and elsewhere are statistically significant (p<0.00001). In 58.3%, cerebral edema and herniation were indicated as the immediate cause of death (G93.6 and G93.5).

CONCLUSIONS

Nosologically unfounded, insufficiently well-defined UCD were established in most cases of death from DNS, In 0.5% of the total number of deaths from DNS, an erroneous presentation as UCD of transient disorders of cerebral circulation or cerebral edema was noted. The results indicate the need for an analysis of the causes of death based on a comparison of medical records and MDC.

Assessing the policy utility of routine mortality statistics: a global classification of countries

Objective

To evaluate the utility and quality of death registration data across countries.

Methods

We compiled routine death and cause of death statistics data from 2015-2019 from national authorities. We estimated completeness of death registration using the Adair-Lopez empirical method. The quality of cause of death data was assessed by evaluating the assignment of usable causes of death among people younger than 80 years. We grouped data into nine policy utility categories based on data availability, registration completeness and diagnostic precision.

Findings

Of an estimated 55 million global deaths in 2019, 70% of deaths were registered across 156 countries, but only 52% had medically certified causes and 42% of deaths were assigned a usable cause. In 54 countries, which are mostly high-income, there is complete and high-quality mortality data. In a further 29 countries, located across different regions, death registration is complete, but cause of death data quality remains suboptimal. Additionally, 37 countries possess functional death registration systems with cause of death data of poor to moderate quality. In 30 countries, death registration ranges from limited to nascent completeness, accompanied by poor or unavailable cause of death data. Furthermore, 38 countries lack accessible data altogether.

Conclusion

By implementing more proactive death notification processes, expanding the use of digitized data collection platforms, streamlining data compilation procedures and improving data quality assessment, governments could enhance the policy utility of mortality data. Encouraging the routine application of automated verbal autopsy methods is crucial for accurately determining the causes of deaths occurring at home.

Factors Associated with Major Errors on Death Certificates

The objective of this study was to investigate errors on death certificates and factors associated with the occurrence of major errors. A retrospective analysis was conducted for six months in 2020 at a university training hospital. Errors were judged as major and minor errors according to the contribution to the process of determining the cause of death. Death certificates were classified into two groups with major errors (ME group) and without major errors (non-ME group). General characteristics of the death certificates, the main cause of death (cancer, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, digestive disease, respiratory disease, genitourinary disease, intentional self-harm, external causes, and other causes), the number of causes of deaths written on the death certificate, and major and minor errors were investigated. The ME group had 127 cases out of 548 death certificates. The number of causes of deaths written on the death certificates and the total number of errors were higher in the ME group than in the non-ME group. Cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, digestive disease, respiratory disease, external causes, and other diseases as causes of deaths had higher risks of major errors on death certificates than cancer as a cause of death. The group with cancer as a cause of death had the lowest incidence of major errors and fewer causes of deaths. To reduce major errors, continuous education and feedback are needed for those who are qualified to issue a death certificate.

Are cause of death data for Shanghai fit for purpose? A retrospective study of medical records

OBJECTIVES

To assess the quality of cause of death reporting in Shanghai for both hospital and home deaths.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Medical records review (MRR) to independently establish a reference data set against which to compare original and adjusted diagnoses from a sample of three tertiary hospitals, one secondary level hospital and nine community health centres in Shanghai.

PARTICIPANTS

1757 medical records (61% males, 39% females) of deaths that occurred in these sample sites in 2017 were reviewed using established diagnostic standards.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

PRIMARY OUTCOME

Original underlying cause of death (UCOD) from medical facilities.

SECONDARY OUTCOME

Routine UCOD assigned from the Shanghai Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system and MRR UCODs from MRR.

RESULTS

The original UCODs as assigned by doctors in the study facilities were of relatively low quality, reduced to 31% of deaths assigned to garbage codes, reduced to 2.3% following data quality and follow back procedures routinely applied by the Shanghai CRVS system. The original UCOD had lower chance-corrected concordance and cause-specific mortality fraction accuracy of 0.57 (0.44, 0.70) and 0.66, respectively, compared with 0.75 (0.66, 0.85) and 0.96, respectively, after routine data checking procedures had been applied.

CONCLUSIONS

Training in correct death certification for clinical doctors, especially tertiary hospital doctors, is essential to improve UCOD quality in Shanghai. A routine quality control system should be established to actively track diagnostic performance and provide feedback to individual doctors or facilities as needed.

Projecting Temperature-Attributable Mortality and Hospital Admissions due to Enteric Infections in the Philippines

BACKGROUND

Enteric infections cause significant deaths, and global projection studies suggest that mortality from enteric infections will increase in the future with warmer climate. However, a major limitation of these projection studies is the use of risk estimates derived from nonmortality data to project excess enteric infection mortality associated with temperature because of the lack of studies that used actual deaths.

OBJECTIVE

We quantified the associations of daily temperature with both mortality and hospital admissions due to enteric infections in the Philippines. These associations were applied to projections under various climate and population change scenarios.

METHODS

We modeled nonlinear temperature associations of mortality and hospital admissions due to enteric infections in 17 administrative regions of the Philippines using a two-stage time-series approach. First, we quantified nonlinear temperature associations of enteric infections by fitting generalized linear models with distributed lag nonlinear models. Second, we combined regional estimates using a meta-regression model. We projected the excess future enteric infections due to nonoptimal temperatures using regional temperature-enteric infection associations under various combinations of climate change scenarios according to representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and population change scenarios according to shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) for 2010-2099.

RESULTS

Regional estimates for mortality and hospital admissions were significantly heterogeneous and had varying shapes in association with temperature. Generally, mortality risks were greater in high temperatures, whereas hospital admission risks were greater in low temperatures. Temperature-attributable excess deaths in 2090-2099 were projected to increase over 2010-2019 by as little as 1.3% [95% empirical confidence intervals (eCI): -3.1%, 6.5%] under a low greenhouse gas emission scenario (RCP 2.6) or as much as 25.5% (95% eCI: -3.5%, 48.2%) under a high greenhouse gas emission scenario (RCP 8.5). A moderate increase was projected for temperature-attributable excess hospital admissions, from 0.02% (95% eCI: -2.0%, 1.9%) under RCP 2.6 to 5.2% (95% eCI: -12.7%, 21.8%) under RCP 8.5 in the same period. High temperature-attributable deaths and hospital admissions due to enteric infections may occur under scenarios with high population growth in 2090-2099.

DISCUSSION

In the Philippines, futures with hotter temperatures and high population growth may lead to a greater increase in temperature-related excess deaths than hospital admissions due to enteric infections. Our results highlight the need to strengthen existing primary health care interventions for diarrhea and support health adaptation policies to help reduce future enteric infections. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP9324.

Association between Ambient Temperature and Severe Diarrhoea in the National Capital Region, Philippines

Epidemiological studies have quantified the association between ambient temperature and diarrhoea. However, to our knowledge, no study has quantified the temperature association for severe diarrhoea cases. In this study, we quantified the association between mean temperature and two severe diarrhoea outcomes, which were mortality and hospital admissions accompanied with dehydration and/or co-morbidities. Using a 12-year dataset of three urban districts of the National Capital Region, Philippines, we modelled the non-linear association between weekly temperatures and weekly severe diarrhoea cases using a two-stage time series analysis. We computed the relative risks at the 95th (30.4 °C) and 5th percentiles (25.8 °C) of temperatures using minimum risk temperatures (MRTs) as the reference to quantify the association with high- and low-temperatures, respectively. The shapes of the cumulative associations were generally J-shaped with greater associations towards high temperatures. Mortality risks were found to increase by 53.3% [95% confidence interval (CI): 29.4%; 81.7%)] at 95th percentile of weekly mean temperatures compared with the MRT (28.2 °C). Similarly, the risk of hospitalised severe diarrhoea increased by 27.1% (95% CI: 0.7%; 60.4%) at 95th percentile in mean weekly temperatures compared with the MRT (28.6 °C). With the increased risk of severe diarrhoea cases under high ambient temperature, there may be a need to strengthen primary healthcare services and sustain the improvements made in water, sanitation, and hygiene, particularly in poor communities.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of the 2019 cigarette excise tax reform in the Philippines

In this past decade alone, the Philippines has made major strides in increasing the price of cigarettes. This study estimated the cost-effectiveness of the most recent cigarette price increase of about 29% brought about by Republic Act (RA) 11346 in 2019. A static or a single cohort model was populated with locally-sourced inputs whenever possible. Public payer and societal perspectives were taken wherein the former only considered direct costs and tax revenue gained earmarked for the health sector while the latter adds indirect costs in the form of productivity losses. A 7% discount rate was applied. Increasing the price of cigarettes by about 29% was found to prevent about 1961 tobacco-related deaths which translate to about 34,571 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) saved. Savings incurred from hospitalizations prevented and additional excise tax revenues for health was about USD 367 Million. But when productivity losses averted due to the lives saved and the higher cost of hospitalizations were accounted for in the societal perspective, the excise tax reform yielded USD 415 Million net gain. It would save the public payer USD 10,612 per DALY averted while society at large stand to save USD 11,955 per DALY averted. Tax increases like RA 11346 yield significant revenue that can be used towards public health programs.

Improving cause of death certification in the Philippines: implementation of an electronic verbal autopsy decision support tool (SmartVA auto-analyse) to aid physician diagnoses of out-of-facility deaths

Background

The majority of deaths in the Philippines occur out-of-facility and require a medical certificate of cause of death by Municipal Health Officers (MHOs) for burial. MHOs lack a standardised certification process for out-of-facility deaths and when no medical records are available, certify a high proportion of ill-defined causes of death. We aimed to develop and introduce SmartVA Auto-Analyse, a verbal autopsy (VA) based electronic decision support tool in order to assist the MHOs in certifying out-of-facility deaths.

Method

We conducted a stakeholder consultation, process mapping and a pre-test to assess feasibility and acceptability of SmartVA Auto-Analyse. MHOs were first asked to conduct an open-ended interview from the family members of the deceased, and if they were not able to arrive at a diagnosis, continue the interview using the standardised SmartVA questionnaire. Auto-Analyse then presented the MHO with the three most likely causes of death. For the pilot, the intervention was scaled-up to 91 municipalities. We performed a mixed-methods evaluation using the cause of death data and group discussions with the MHOs.

Results

Of the 5649 deaths registered, Auto-Analyse was used to certify 4586 (81%). For the remaining 19%, doctors believed they could assign a cause of death based on the availability of medical records and the VA open narrative. When used, physicians used the Auto-Analyse diagnosis in 85% of cases to certify the cause of death. Only 13% of the deaths under the intervention had an undetermined cause of death. Group discussions identified two themes: Auto-Analyse standardized the certification of home deaths and assisted the MHOs to improve the quality of death certification.

Conclusion

Standardized VA combined with physician diagnosis using the SmartVA Auto-Analyse support tool was readily used by MHOs in the Philippines and can improve the quality of death certification of home deaths.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10542-0.