Reliable mortality statistics for Turkey: Are we there yet?

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Gönül Dinç Horasan¹  Raziye Özdemir²  Zeliha Öcek³  Chalapati Rao⁴ 

[1] Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Celal Bayar University Medicine Faculty, Manisa, Turkey;Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Karabuk University Health School, Karabuk, Turkey;Department of Public Health, Ege University Medicine Faculty, Izmir, Turkey;Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia;

关键词: Turkish Statistical Institute;    Death Reporting System;    Vital Registration;    Mortality statistics;    Izmir;    Turkey;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1904-1

 received in 2014-07-19, accepted in 2015-06-03,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe Turkish government has implemented several reforms to improve the Turkish Statistical Institute Death Reporting System (TURKSTAT-DRS) since 2009. However, there has been no assessment to evaluate the impact of these reforms on causes of death statistics. This study attempted to analyse the impact of these reforms on the TURKSTAT-DRS for Turkey, and in the case of Izmir, one of the most developed provinces in Turkey.MethodsThe evaluation framework comprised three main components each with specific criteria. Firstly, data from TURKSTAT for Turkey and Izmir for the periods 2001–2008 and 2009–2013 were assessed in terms of the following dimensions that represent quality of mortality statistics (a. completeness of death registration, b. trends in proportions of deaths with ill-defined causes). Secondly, the quality of information recorded on individual death certificates from Izmir in 2010 was analysed for a. missing information, b. timeliness of death notifications and c. characteristics of deaths with ill-defined causes. Finally, TURKSTAT data were analysed to estimate life tables and summary mortality indicators for Turkey and Izmir, as well as the leading causes-of-death in Turkey in 2013.ResultsRegistration of adult deaths in Izmir as well as at the national level for Turkey has considerably improved since the introduction of reforms in 2009, along with marked decline in the proportions of deaths assigned ill-defined causes. Death certificates from Izmir indicated significant gaps in recorded information for demographic as well as epidemiological variables, particularly for infant deaths, and in the detailed recording of causes of death. Life expectancy at birth estimated from local data is 3–4 years higher than similar estimates for Turkey from international studies, and this requires further investigation and confirmation.ConclusionThe TURKSTAT-DRS is now an improved source of mortality and cause of death statistics for Turkey. The reliability and validity of TURKSTAT data needs to be established through a detailed research program to evaluate completeness of death registration and validity of registered causes of death. Similar evaluation and data analysis of mortality indicators is required at regular intervals at national and sub-national level, to increase confidence in their utility as primary data for epidemiology and health policy.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Ozdemir et al. 2015. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.