TY - JOUR
T1 - Revising the WHO verbal autopsy instrument to facilitate routine cause-of-death monitoring
AU - Leitao, Jordana
AU - Chandramohan, Daniel
AU - Byass, Peter
AU - Jakob, Robert
AU - Bundhamcharoen, Kanitta
AU - Choprapawon, Chanpen
AU - de Savigny, Don
AU - Fottrell, Edward
AU - França, Elizabeth
AU - Frøen, Frederik
AU - Gewaifel, Gihan
AU - Hodgson, Abraham
AU - Hounton, Sennen
AU - Kahn, Kathleen
AU - Krishnan, Anand
AU - Kumar, Vishwajeet
AU - Masanja, Honorati
AU - Nichols, Erin
AU - Notzon, Francis
AU - Rasooly, Mohammad Hafiz
AU - Sankoh, Osman
AU - Spiegel, Paul
AU - AbouZahr, Carla
AU - Amexo, Marc
AU - Kebede, Derege
AU - Alley, William Soumbey
AU - Marinho, Fatima
AU - Ali, Mohamed
AU - Loyola, Enrique
AU - Chikersal, Jyotsna
AU - Gao, Jun
AU - Annunziata, Giuseppe
AU - Bahl, Rajiv
AU - Bartolomeus, Kidist
AU - Boerma, Ties
AU - Ustun, Bedirhan
AU - Chou, Doris
AU - Muhe, Lulu
AU - Mathai, Matthews
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Objective: Verbal autopsy (VA) is a systematic approach for determining causes of death (CoD) in populations without routine medical certification. It has mainly been used in research contexts and involved relatively lengthy interviews. Our objective here is to describe the process used to shorten, simplify, and standardise the VA process to make it feasible for application on a larger scale such as in routine civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. Methods: A literature review of existing VA instruments was undertaken. The World Health Organization (WHO) then facilitated an international consultation process to review experiences with existing VA instruments, including those from WHO, the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) Network, InterVA, and the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC). In an expert meeting, consideration was given to formulating a workable VA CoD list [with mapping to the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) CoD] and to the viability and utility of existing VA interview questions, with a view to undertaking systematic simplification. Findings: A revised VA CoD list was compiled enabling mapping of all ICD-10 CoD onto 62 VA cause categories, chosen on the grounds of public health significance as well as potential for ascertainment from VA. A set of 221 indicators for inclusion in the revised VA instrument was developed on the basis of accumulated experience, with appropriate skip patterns for various population sub-groups. The duration of a VA interview was reduced by about 40% with this new approach. Conclusions: The revised VA instrument resulting from this consultation process is presented here as a means of making it available for widespread use and evaluation. It is envisaged that this will be used in conjunction with automated models for assigning CoD from VA data, rather than involving physicians.
AB - Objective: Verbal autopsy (VA) is a systematic approach for determining causes of death (CoD) in populations without routine medical certification. It has mainly been used in research contexts and involved relatively lengthy interviews. Our objective here is to describe the process used to shorten, simplify, and standardise the VA process to make it feasible for application on a larger scale such as in routine civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. Methods: A literature review of existing VA instruments was undertaken. The World Health Organization (WHO) then facilitated an international consultation process to review experiences with existing VA instruments, including those from WHO, the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) Network, InterVA, and the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC). In an expert meeting, consideration was given to formulating a workable VA CoD list [with mapping to the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) CoD] and to the viability and utility of existing VA interview questions, with a view to undertaking systematic simplification. Findings: A revised VA CoD list was compiled enabling mapping of all ICD-10 CoD onto 62 VA cause categories, chosen on the grounds of public health significance as well as potential for ascertainment from VA. A set of 221 indicators for inclusion in the revised VA instrument was developed on the basis of accumulated experience, with appropriate skip patterns for various population sub-groups. The duration of a VA interview was reduced by about 40% with this new approach. Conclusions: The revised VA instrument resulting from this consultation process is presented here as a means of making it available for widespread use and evaluation. It is envisaged that this will be used in conjunction with automated models for assigning CoD from VA data, rather than involving physicians.
KW - Cause of death
KW - Civil registration
KW - InterVA
KW - Verbal autopsy
KW - Vital registration
KW - Vital statistics
KW - World health organization
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84886256329&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3402/gha.v6i0.21518
DO - 10.3402/gha.v6i0.21518
M3 - Article
C2 - 24041439
AN - SCOPUS:84886256329
SN - 1654-9716
VL - 6
JO - Global health action
JF - Global health action
IS - 1
M1 - 21518
ER -