title: Estimation of under-reporting of visceral leishmaniasis cases in Bihar, India.
abstract: We estimated the level of under-reporting of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases by comparing the actual reported cases with those expected as estimated using age- and sex-stratified incidence proportions obtained in a cohort of 31,324 persons. The average incidence proportion of VL cases in study population was 5.7/1,000 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.88-6.54) and 1.09/1,000 persons (95% CI = 0.99-1.20) based on the reported cases in two primary health centers. The overall magnitude of VL cases not reported to the government agencies was higher by a factor 4.17 (95% CI = 3.75-4.63) than for reported cases. The levels of under-reporting were 4.74 (95% CI = 4.11-5.47) in males and 3.51 (95% CI = 2.99-4.11) in females with no significant difference (P > 0.05). It was significantly higher in persons >or= 30 years of age than in persons 30 years of age (P < 0.05).
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Science, Indian Council of Medical Research, Patna, Bihar, India. drvpsingh20@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Vijay P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ranjan
authors.forename: Roshan K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Topno
authors.forename: Rakesh B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Niyamat A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Siddique
authors.forename: Vidya N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Ravidas
authors.forename: Narendra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male