International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 26, 1298-1306, Copyright © 1997 by International Epidemiological Association
IG Winbo, FH Serenius, GG Dahlquist and BA Kallen
BACKGROUND: In large-scale epidemiological studies of stillbirths and
neonatal deaths a method is needed to replace detailed medical record
audits in order to determine the cause of death. METHODS: A computer- based
method is presented for determination of the cause of death in stillbirths
and in neonatal deaths. It utilizes information in the Swedish medical
registries. The study comprises 6044 dead infants born in Sweden from
1983-1990. For each infant the program determines 31 basic characteristics
which are important in deciding the cause of death. Based on these
characteristics a modified Wigglesworth's classification is used to find
the cause of death. The validity of the method was checked by comparing the
computer generated information with information obtained by scrutinizing
medical records for a 10% representative sample (603 infants). RESULTS:
Specificity and sensitivity for each basic characteristic varied, but for
the modified Wigglesworth cause of death classification the concordance was
88%. The weakest data refer to intrauterine deaths, where pertinent
information was often missing in the medical registries. CONCLUSION: The
method can be used for large-scale epidemiological studies.
ARTICLES
A computer-based method for cause of death classification in stillbirths and neonatal deaths
Department of Paediatrics, Umea University Hospital, Sweden.
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