Validity and completeness of death reporting and registration in a rural district of Vietnam.
OBJECTIVE
Assessment was made of the validity of mortality estimates based on data collected during 1999-2000 by quarterly follow-up visits and compared with other methods (re-census, communal death registration, and neighbourhood survey).


METHODS
This study was carried out within a longitudinal epidemiological laboratory in Bavi, District, Vietnam (called FilaBavi), covering a sample of 11,089 households with 51,024 inhabitants. Deaths within FilaBavi during 1999-2000 were collected by four methods and compared: quarterly household follow-ups, the re-census carried out in 2001, the Commune Population Registration System (CPRS), and a neighbourhood survey.


RESULTS
Within these four methods, a total of 471 deaths were detected in the FilaBavi sample. Quarterly household follow-ups detected 470 deaths (99.8%). The re-census missed 19 deaths, of which eight were infants, and two-thirds of the missed deaths fell in 1999. The CPRS missed 89 cases (19%), the majority being infant and elderly deaths. The neighbourhood survey over-reported deaths.


CONCLUSIONS
Quarterly follow-ups were the best method for death registration. The re-census approach was less complete, with problems of recall bias. The completeness and quality of death registration by CPRS was low, especially for infant and elderly mortality.
Huy
Tran Quang
TQ
UongBi General Hospital, Uong Bi, Vietnam. huyub@yahoo.com
Long
Nguyen Hoang
NH
Hoa
Dinh Phuong
DP
Byass
Peter
P
Ericksson
Bo
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D019352:Censuses; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003644:Death Certificates; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012042:Registries; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology