Accuracy of WHO verbal autopsy tool in determining major causes of neonatal deaths in India.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of World Health Organisation (WHO) verbal autopsy tool in determining major causes of neonatal deaths.

Methods

From a tertiary care hospital and a government multispecialty hospital, the attending paediatricians ascertained a clinical cause of death for 371 neonatal deaths. Trained field workers conducted verbal autopsy (VA) interviews. Two independent paediatricians, who had no access to the clinical information, assigned cause of death as per verbal autopsy. Analysis was based on 313 cases in which both clinical diagnosis and VA diagnosis was obtained.

Findings

As per the clinical diagnosis, four most common causes of neonatal deaths were sepsis (29.1%), preterm birth (27.8%), birth asphyxia (27.2%), an

SUBMITTER: Aggarwal AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3555991 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature