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

Population Health Metrics

Research

Bernardo Hernandez¹  Meghan D. Mooney¹  Peter Serina¹  Christopher J. L. Murray¹  Abraham D. Flaxman¹  Andrea Stewart¹  Veronica Tallo²  Diozele Sanvictores²  Rohina Joshi³  Devarsetty Praveen⁴  Alan D. Lopez⁵  Ian Riley⁶ 

[1] Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, 2301 Fifth Ave., Suite 600, 98121, Seattle, WA, USA;Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Corporate Ave, 1781, Muntinlupa City, Philippines;The George Institute for Global Health – Australia, PO Box M201, Level 10, King George V Building, 83-117 Missenden Rd, 2050, Camperdown, NSW, Australia;The George Institute for Global Health – India, Unit No. 301, Second Floor, ANR Center Road No.1, Banjara Hills, 500 034, Hyderabad, Telangana, India;University of Melbourne, School of Population and Global Health, Building 379, 207 Bouverie St., 3010, Parkville, VIC, Australia;University of Queensland, School of Public Health, Level 2 Public Health Building School of Public Health, Herston Road, 4006, Herston, QLD, Australia;University of Melbourne, School of Population and Global Health, Building 379, 207 Bouverie St., 3010, Parkville, VIC, Australia;

关键词: Verbal autopsy;    Cause of death;    Recall period;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12963-016-0105-1

 received in 2016-04-08, accepted in 2016-09-29,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundOne 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 dataset in which two VAs were administered for a single decedent.MethodsThis study used information from the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC) Study, which collected VAs for “gold standard” cases where cause of death (COD) was supported by clinical criteria. This study repeated VA interviews within 3–52 months of death in PHMRC study sites in Andhra Pradesh, India, and Bohol and Manila, Philippines. The final dataset included 2113 deaths interviewed twice and with recall periods ranging from 0 to 52 months. COD was assigned by the Tariff method and its accuracy determined by comparison with the gold standard COD.ResultsThe probability of a correct diagnosis of COD decreased by 0.55% per month in the period after death. Site of data collection and survey module also affected the probability of Tariff Method correctly assigning a COD. The probability of a correct diagnosis in VAs collected 3–11 months after death will, on average, be 95.9% of that in VAs collected within 3 months of death.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that collecting VAs within 3 months of death may improve the quality of the information collected, taking the need for a period of mourning into account. This study substantiates the WHO recommendation that it is reasonable to collect VAs up to 1 year after death providing it is accepted that probability of a correct diagnosis is likely to decline month by month during this period.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016