Verbal autopsy: a tool for determining cause of death in a community

East Afr Med J. 1990 Oct;67(10):693-8.

Abstract

Verbal autopsy was used to determine causes of death in 239 children under the age of 5 years. The diagnosis derived from verbal autopsy was corroborated with hospital diagnosis in 39 cases. There was concurrence of diagnosis in 72% of the cases. Using the diagnosis of bronchopneumonia to validate the method, verbal autopsy was found to have a sensitivity of 71%, specificity of 92%, a positive predictive value of 85%. Reliability index of agreement was 0.654. Recall period up to 29 months after death was found to be reliable.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bias
  • Bronchopneumonia / mortality
  • Cause of Death*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Developing Countries*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Interviews as Topic*
  • Kenya / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Medical Records*
  • Mental Recall
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Primary Health Care / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Respiratory Tract Infections / mortality
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Surveys and Questionnaires