Ascertaining cause of mortality among middle-aged and older persons using computer-coded and expert review verbal autopsies in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

作者：Yuan S Zhang, Peifeng Hu, John Strauss, Yaohui Zhao, Yafeng Wang, Eileen M. Crimmins · 发表于：Global Health Action · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1080/16549716.2020.1768502 · 被引用次数：25 · 研究领域：Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes、Suicide and Self-Harm Studies、Neuroscience of respiration and sleep

BACKGROUND: Verbal autopsy is designed to ascertain causes of death that are not registered or certified. Verbal autopsy has been validated in multiple settings but has not been as widely evaluated for older populations as for younger age groups. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to provide empirical evidence of the value of verbal autopsy interviews in the context of population-based surveys of older adults by comparing the cause-of-death assignments derived from two methods of interpreting verbal autopsy data. METHODS: Data used in this study come from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of older Chinese. We compared 407 causes of death determined using InterVA, which is a computer-coded method, and causes of death as assigned by experts; then evaluated factors that affect the results of the two approaches. RESULTS: Among the 407 deaths, neoplasms, cardiac disease, and stroke are the leading causes of death according to both approaches. The consistency of the two approaches is about 45% at the individual level. The primary reason for the mismatch is that no cause of death could be assigned for more than 25% of the sample based on expert review. A higher likelihood of mismatch is associated with advanced age and a long period between death and verbal autopsy interview. CONCLUSION: Both approaches identify the same leading causes of death at the aggregate level, but consistency is relatively low at the individual level....