Improving the public health utility of global cardiovascular mortality data: the rise of ischemic heart disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

High-quality, cause-specific mortality data are critical for effective health policy. Yet vague cause of death codes, such as heart failure, are highly prevalent in global mortality data. We propose an empirical method correcting mortality data for the use of heart failure as an underlying cause of death.

Methods

We performed a regression analysis stratified by sex, age, and country development status on all available ICD-10 mortality data, consisting of 142 million deaths across 838 country-years. The analysis yielded predicted fractions with which to redistribute heart failure-attributed deaths to the appropriate underlying causes of death. Age-adjusted death rates and rank causes of death before and after correction were calculated.

Results

Heart failure

SUBMITTER: Ahern RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3064613 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature