Beyond the underlying cause of death: an algorithm to study multi-morbidity at death.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In countries with high life expectancy, a growing share of the population is living with several diseases, a situation referred to as multi-morbidity. In addition to health data, cause-of-death data, based on the information reported on death certificates, can help monitor and characterize this situation. This requires going beyond the underlying cause of death and accounting for all causes on the death certificates which may have played various roles in the morbid process, depending on how they relate to each other.

Methods

Apart from the underlying cause, the cause-of death data available in vital registration systems do not differentiate all other causes. We developed an algorithm based on the WHO rules that assigns a "role" to each entry on the death certifica

SUBMITTER: Grippo F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11653578 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature