Todd J E, De Francisco A, O'Dempsey T J, Greenwood B M
Medical Research Council Laboratories, Banjul, The Gambia.
Ann Trop Paediatr. 1994;14(1):31-6. doi: 10.1080/02724936.1994.11747689.
Verbal autopsies are being used widely to describe the causes of mortality and to assess the effect of interventions against specific diseases in developing countries where many deaths occur at home. A verbal autopsy has been in use in the Upper River Division of The Gambia since 1988. In this paper we present the results of a validation study of this technique. One hundred and forty-one verbal autopsies were reviewed on two occasions by the same three physicians. In 38 (27%) of the cases, the first and subsequent diagnoses differed. In 94 children admitted to Basse Health Centre, the results of verbal autopsies were compared with the diagnoses made by a paediatrician--only 44 (47%) matched. The poor sensitivity and specificity of the verbal autopsy in this study may have been due to the confounding effect of malaria, which can be difficult to distinguish from other causes of death in this community.
在许多死亡发生在家中的发展中国家，死因推断被广泛用于描述死亡原因以及评估针对特定疾病的干预措施的效果。自1988年以来，冈比亚上河区一直在使用死因推断。在本文中，我们展示了这项技术的验证研究结果。同三位医生对141例死因推断进行了两次复查。在38例（27%）病例中，首次诊断和后续诊断不同。在94名入住巴塞健康中心的儿童中，将死因推断结果与儿科医生做出的诊断进行了比较——只有44例（47%）相符。本研究中死因推断的敏感性和特异性较差，可能是由于疟疾的混杂效应，在这个社区中，疟疾很难与其他死亡原因区分开来。
