Performance of the Tariff Method: validation of a simple additive algorithm for analysis of verbal autopsies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Verbal autopsies provide valuable information for studying mortality patterns in populations that lack reliable vital registration data. Methods for transforming verbal autopsy results into meaningful information for health workers and policymakers, however, are often costly or complicated to use. We present a simple additive algorithm, the Tariff Method (termed Tariff), which can be used for assigning individual cause of death and for determining cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMFs) from verbal autopsy data.

Methods

Tariff calculates a score, or "tariff," for each cause, for each sign/symptom, across a pool of validated verbal autopsy data. The tariffs are summed for a given response pattern in a verbal autopsy, and this sum (score) provides the basis for p

SUBMITTER: James SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3160924 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature