Hospital based infectious disease related proportional mortality study.

Abstract

Objective: To understand the temporal trends in mortality in Rural Central India.

Design: Retrospective review of physician issued death certificates from a rural teaching hospital.

Materials and methods: Physician issued death certificates from 1979 to 2008, available with a rural teaching hospital were analyzed and information on age, gender, date, and cause of death was abstracted. We estimated cause-specific, proportional mortality ratio (PMR) stratified by age, and gender. We compared the difference in PMR in first fifteen years of the study period (period A, 1979-1993) with the later (period B, 1994-2008).

Results: We found 20494 death certificates between 1979 and 2008. Proportion of infectious disease related mortality declined from 35% in 1979-1983-26% in 2004-2008. In the same periods, injury related mortality increased from 4.6% to 13.4%, and chronic disease mortality from 19% to 28%. The absolute difference in PMR (per 1000 deaths) was statistically significant between period B and period A, for infections (a decline of 80.67 [95% CI 66.97-94.03]), chronic diseases (an increase of 45.85 [95% CI 33.49-58.55]), and injuries (an increase of 42.98 [95% CI 33.87-52.26]).

Conclusion: Temporal trend in mortality from a single hospital in rural Central-India over the past three decades shows decline in infectious diseases, and rise in injuries and chronic diseases.