Currently submitted to: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Feb 8, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 10, 2025 - Apr 7, 2025
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Protocol of the study for Setting up of a system for “Medical Certification of Cause of Death” for non-institutional deaths in a selected area of a Taluk of Kolar district, Karnataka, India: feasibility and validity
ABSTRACT
Background:
The current coverage of Medical Certification of Cause of Death in India is only 22.5%. This is largely attributed to significant proportion of deaths occurring outside the hospital (non-institutional deaths). The cause of death in such cases is unlikely to be certified by any doctor. The present study attempts to address this gap by developing a system to provide MCCD for non-institutional deaths in the country. This is first of the kind study attempting to address the gap of coverage as well as reliability of MCCD for non-institutional deaths.
Objective:
To assess the feasibility of “Physician derived Cause of death” approach for deducing “cause of death” in “non-institutional deaths” in a selected area of Kolar Taluk, Karnataka and to validate this approach
Methods:
Doctors of selected major hospitals in Kolar taluk and PHC medical officers and private practitioners of 2 selected PHC areas of the taluk would be trained in arriving at “Cause of Death” in “non-institutional deaths” using the “PhyCoD” tool. The “cause of death” deduced by this approach would be validated against the ‘gold standard’ autopsy wherever possible. The approach will also be tested for “inter-rater reliability”. Expected outcome: a) Development of a tool for physicians for deducing “Cause of Death” in “non-institutional deaths” b) Increased coverage of MCCD for “non-institutional deaths” c) Improved accuracy in the reporting of “cause of death” for “non-institutional deaths” d) Reduced delay in the reporting of “cause of death” for “non-institutional deaths”
Results:
Preparation of tools questionnaires and Pilot Phase data collection have been completed
Conclusions:
Expected outcomes of the project are:- a) Development of a tool for physicians for deducing Cause of Death in non-institutional deaths b) Increased coverage of non-institutional deaths under MCCD c) Improved accuracy of the cause of death reporting for non-institutional deaths d) Reduced delay of the cause of death reporting for non-institutional deaths Clinical Trial: NA
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