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New methods improve cause-of-death comparisons

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May 10, 2010–Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) have developed new algorithms to redistribute cause-of-death coding for deaths that have been improperly classified, allowing for more effective large-scale comparisons of cause-of-death trends across countries and time.

Valid, reliable, and comparable assessments of cause-of-death trends are limited by changes in cause-of-death codes over time and the assignment of deaths to causes that cannot or should not be considered underlying causes of death, often called garbage codes.

The purpose of this study, Algorithms for enhancing public health utility of national causes-of-death data, published in Population Health Metrics in May 2010, was to reduce the number of garbage codes, thus enhancing the utility of national cause-of-death data.

Researchers mapped 56 causes of death over most revisions of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems since 1950. They then consulted with Global Burden of Disease experts in identifying likely causes to which garbage codes should ideally be reassigned. Practical algorithms to redistribute the deaths were developed and applied to a database of more than 700 million deaths.

The results of this study indicate that these algorithms can be generally applied to country-level data by analysts interested in comparability over time and place.

“Analyzing trends in mortality is vital, and these garbage codes have prevented many countries from doing so,” said Dr. Rafael Lozano, a study co-author and Professor of Global Health at IHME. “These new algorithms will provide countries with useful and valuable information.”

Full Citation: Naghavi M, Makela S, Foreman K, O’Brien J, Pourmalek F, Lozano R. Algorithms for enhancing public health utility of national causes-of-death data. Population Health Metrics. 2010 May 10; 8:9.

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