Causes of death in rural adult population of North India (2002-2007), using verbal autopsy tool

C Palanivel; Kapil Yadav; Vivek Gupta; Sanjay K Rai; Puneet Misra; Anand Krishnan

doi:10.4103/0019-557X.114988

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Year : 2013 | Volume : 57 | Issue : 2 | Page : 78-83

Causes of death in rural adult population of North India (2002-2007), using verbal autopsy tool

C Palanivel¹, Kapil Yadav², Vivek Gupta³, Sanjay K Rai⁴, Puneet Misra⁴, Anand Krishnan⁵
¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India
² Assistant Professor, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
³ Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
⁴ Additional Professor, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
⁵ Associate Professor, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Correspondence Address:
Anand Krishnan
Associate Professor, Centre for Community Medicine, Old OT Block, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi - 110 029
India

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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DOI: 10.4103/0019-557X.114988

Background: With the on-going epidemiological transition, information on the pattern of mortality is important for health planning. Verbal autopsy (VA) is an established tool to ascertain the cause of death in areas where routine registration systems are incomplete or inaccurate. We estimated cause-specific mortality rates in rural adult population of 28 villages of Ballabgarh in North India using VA. Materials and Methods: During 2002-2007, trained multi-purpose health workers conducted 2294 VA interviews and underlying cause of death was coded by physicians. Proportional mortality (%) was calculated by dividing the number of deaths attributed to a specific cause by the total number of deaths for which a VA was carried out. Findings: 61% of deaths occurred among males and 59% occurred among those aged ≥60 years. The leading causes of death were diseases of the respiratory system (18.7%) and the circulatory system (18.1%). Infectious causes and injuries and other external causes, each accounted for around 15% of total deaths followed by neoplasms (6.8%) and diseases of the digestive system (4%). Among those 45 years of age, more than half of deaths were attributed to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) alone. Accidents and injuries were responsible for one-fourth of deaths in 15-30 years age group. Conclusion: NCDs and injuries are emerging as major causes of death in this region thereby posing newer challenges to public health system.

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