Journal article
Road traffic death coding quality in the WHO Mortality Database
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol.101(10), pp.637-648
10/01/2023
DOI: 10.2471/BLT.23.289683
PMCID: 10523810
PMID: 37772197
Abstract
Objective To evaluate the precision and dependability of road traffic mortality data recorded in the World Health Organization Mortality Database and investigate how uncorrected data influence vital mortality statistics used in traffic safety programmes worldwide. Methods We assessed country and territory-specific data quality from 2015 to 2020 by calculating the proportions of five types of nonspecific cause of death codes related to road traffic mortality. We compared age-adjusted road traffic mortality and changes in the average annual mortality rate before and after correcting the deaths with nonspecific codes. We generated road traffic mortality projections with both corrected and uncorrected codes, and redistributed the data using the proportionate method. Findings We analysed data from 124 countries and territories with at least one year of mortality data from 2015 to 2020. The number of countries and territories reporting more than 20% of deaths with ill-defined or unknown cause was 2; countries reporting injury deaths with undetermined intent was 3; countries reporting unspecified unintentional injury deaths was 21; countries reporting unspecified transport crash deaths was 3; and countries reporting unspecified unintentional road traffic deaths was 30. After redistributing deaths with nonspecific codes, road traffic mortality changed by greater than 50% in 7% (5/73) to 18% (9/51) of countries and territories. Conclusion Nonspecific codes led to inaccurate mortality estimates in many countries. We recommend that injury researchers and policymakers acknowledge the potential pitfalls of relying on raw or uncorrected road traffic mortality data and instead use corrected data to ensure more accurate estimates when improving road traffic safety programmes.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Road traffic death coding quality in the WHO Mortality Database
- Creators
- Junjie Hua - Sun Yat-sen UniversityLi Li - Central South UniversityPeishan Ning - Central South UniversityDavid C. Schwebel - University of Alabama at BirminghamJieyi He - Central South UniversityZhenzhen Rao - Central South UniversityPeixia Cheng - Capital Medical UniversityRuotong Li - Central South UniversityYanhong Fu - Central South UniversityJie Li - Central South UniversityWanhui Wang - Cent South Univ, Xiangya Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Epidmiol & Hlth Stat, 172 Tong Zi St, Changsha 410072, Peoples R ChinaNa Zhang - Central South UniversityGuoqing Hu - Central South University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol.101(10), pp.637-648
- DOI
- 10.2471/BLT.23.289683
- PMID
- 37772197
- PMCID
- 10523810
- NLM abbreviation
- Bull World Health Organ
- ISSN
- 0042-9686
- eISSN
- 1564-0604
- Publisher
- World Health Organization
- Number of pages
- 12
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2023
- Academic Unit
- Research Administration
- Record Identifier
- 9984949190202771
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