Estimating cause of adult (15+ years) death using InterVA-4 in a rural district of southern Ghana.
BACKGROUND
Data needed to estimate causes of death and the pattern of these deaths are scarce in sub-Saharan Africa. Such data are very important for targeting, monitoring, and evaluating health interventions.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the mortality rate and determine causes of death among adults (aged 15 years and older) in a rural district of southern Ghana, using the InterVA-4 model.


METHODS
Data used were generated from verbal autopsies conducted for registered adult members of the Dodowa Health and Demographic Surveillance System who died between 2006 and 2010. The InterVA-4 model was used to assign the cause of death.


RESULTS
Overall, the mortality rate for the period under review was 7.5/1,000 person-years (py) for the general population and 10.4/1,000 py for those aged 15 and older. The leading cause of death was communicable diseases (CDs), with a malaria-specific mortality rate of 1.06/1,000 py. Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB)-specific mortality rate was the next highest (1.01/1,000 py). HIV/AIDS attributed deaths were lower among males than females. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) contributed to 28.3% of the deaths with cause-specific mortality rate of 2.93/1,000 py. Stroke topped the list with cause-specific mortality rate of 0.69/1,000 py. As expected, young males (15-49 years) contributed to more road traffic accident (RTA) deaths; they had a lower RTA cause-specific mortality rate than older males (50-64 years).


CONCLUSIONS
Data indicate that CDs (e.g. malaria and TB) remain the major cause of death with NCDs (e.g. stroke) following closely behind. Verbal autopsy data can provide the causes of mortality in poorly resourced settings where access to timely and accurate data is scarce.
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana; awini.elizabeth@gmail.com.
Elizabeth
E
Awini
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Doris
D
Sarpong
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Alexander
A
Adjei
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Alfred Kwesi
AK
Manyeh
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Alberta
A
Amu
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana.
Patricia
P
Akweongo
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana.
Philip
P
Adongo
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana.
Vida
V
Kukula
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Gabriel
G
Odonkor
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Solomon
S
Narh
Dodowa Health Research Centre, Dodowa, Ghana; School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Margaret
M
Gyapong
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012424:Rural Population; D012984:Software
Dodowa; Ghana; Health and Demographic Surveillance System; InterVA-4; adults; cause of death; verbal autopsy