Modeling causes of death: an integrated approach using CODEm.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Data on causes of death by age and sex are a critical input into health decision-making. Priority setting in public health should be informed not only by the current magnitude of health problems but by trends in them. However, cause of death data are often not available or are subject to substantial problems of comparability. We propose five general principles for cause of death model development, validation, and reporting.

Methods

We detail a specific implementation of these principles that is embodied in an analytical tool - the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) - which explores a large variety of possible models to estimate trends in causes of death. Possible models are identified using a covariate selection algorithm that yields many plausible combinations

SUBMITTER: Foreman KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3315398 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature