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Cited by 98Medical Coding and Health InformationAutopsy Techniques and OutcomesGlobal Health and Epidemiology

Systematic review of statistics on causes of deaths in hospitals: strengthening the evidence for policy-makers

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Rampatige, Rasika, Mikkelsen, Lene, Hernandez, Bernardo, Riley, Ian, Lopez, Alan D·2014·Bulletin of the World Health Organization
DOI 10.2471/blt.14.137935PMC PMC4221770
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the reliability of hospital data on cause of death and encourage periodic reviews of these data using a standard method. METHODS: We searched Google Scholar, Pubmed and Biblioteca Virtual de la Salud for articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese that reported validation studies of data on cause of death. We analysed the results of 199 studies that had used medical record reviews to validate the cause of death reported on death certificates or by the vital registration system. FINDINGS: The screened studies had been published between 1983 and 2013 and their results had been reported in English (n = 124), Portuguese (n = 25) or Spanish (n = 50). Only 29 of the studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 13 had examined cause of death patterns at the population level - with a view to correcting cause-specific mortality fractions - while the other 16 had been undertaken to identify discrepancies in the diagnosis for specific diseases before and after medical record review. Most of the selected studies reported substantial misdiagnosis of causes of death in hospitals. There was wide variation in study methodologies. Many studies did not describe the methods used in sufficient detail to be able to assess the reproducibility or comparability of their results. CONCLUSION: The assumption that causes of death are being accurately reported in hospitals is unfounded. To improve the reliability and usefulness of reported causes of death, national governments should do periodic medical record reviews to validate the quality of their hospital cause of death data, using a standard.

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Authors
Rampatige, R., Mikkelsen, L., Hernandez, B., Riley, I., & Lopez, A. D.
Affiliations
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • LM Consulting, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, United States of America.
  • University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Building 379, 207 Bouverie Street, Carlton 3053, Victoria, Australia.
ORCID
Venue
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Publisher
WHO Press
Published
2014-09-16
Volume
92
Issue
11
Pages
807-816
ISSN
0042-9686 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2471/blt.14.137935
PMC
PMC4221770
OpenAlex
W2102740800
Cited by
98
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4
FWCI
0.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Bulletin of the World Health Organization (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Medical Coding and Health Information
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Global Health and Epidemiology
Keywords
causes of death, data validation, medical records review, death certificates, civil registration, misdiagnosis, cause-specific mortality fractions, data quality
MeSH terms
Cause of Death, Death Certificates, Health Policy, Humans, Medical Records, Statistics as Topic, Hospital Mortality

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