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Accuracy of asthma statistics from death certificates in South Australia
Author(s) -
Campbell Donald A,
Gluyas Pamela A,
Ruffin Richard E,
McLennan Geoffrey,
Coates John R,
Frith Peter A,
Latimer Karen M,
Martin A James,
Roder David M,
Yellowlees Peter M
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1992.tb137000.x
Subject(s) - death certificate , asthma , medicine , cause of death , epidemiology , coding (social sciences) , pediatrics , medical emergency , demography , statistics , disease , mathematics , sociology
Objective To assess the accuracy of asthma statistics from death certificates in South Australia. Design Comparison of death certificate coding with expert panel assessments of causes of death after interviews with certifying doctors, regular medical practitioners and close acquaintances of the deceased. Subjects 261 subjects for whom the term “asthma”, “asthmatic” or “asthmaticus” was recorded in Part I or Part II of death certificates lodged in the 24‐month period from May 1988. Main outcome measures Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of death certificate coding, with expert panel assessments as the reference standard. Results About 95% of deaths assessed as definitely due to asthma were so coded from death certificates, but only 69% of deaths assessed by the panel as not due to asthma were coded to a “non‐asthmatic” cause. Of the 129 deaths coded to asthma, the percentage assessed as definitely or lilcely to be due to asthma was 56%. For ages under 65 years, this figure was 84% compared with only 38% for older subjects. Conclusion The accuracy of death certificate data on asthma for the age group 65 years and over would be too low at present for most epidemiological purposes.