Death Certifricates And Mortality Statistics

Question 1

Whaat is preventive medicine?

Answer 1

Preventive medicine is a specialty and has residency program

• Preventive medicine impacts on life expectancy
• Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining to a person at a particular age, based on age-specific mortality rates

Question 2

Contrast life expectancy in the United States

Answer 2

Question 3

Contrast the impact of chronic and infectious diseases

Answer 3

Question 4

What accounts for gain in life expectancy?

Answer 4

Question 5

Whaat are the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S.?

Answer 5

Question 6

What factors contribute to the increase in life expectancy?

Answer 6

Clean water and air

• Improved sanitation
• Safer foods, improved nutrition
• Expanded immunizations
• Safer environment and workplaces
• Improved medical care

Question 7

What are the core aspects of preventive medicine?

Answer 7

Screening (Use of tests, examination, or other procedures to identify disease, disease precursors, or susceptibility to disease in persons without evidence or suspicion of disease to identify early disease or susceptibility when it is more easily / more successfully treated)

• Counseling
• Immunization (and chemoprophylaxis

Question 8

What are the “actual” causes of death?

Answer 8

Question 9

Where do death statistics come from? Who provides the information ?

Answer 9

Death certificates- physicians, funeral home directors, medical examiners or coroners

Question 10

What information is collected for a death certificate?

Answer 10

Question 11

What are death certificates so important?

Answer 11

Public Heath

• Characterize and assess general health of population, and
differences within population (both overall and cause-specific)
• Target and measures results of interventions
• Follow up on infant, maternal and other deaths
• Calculation of life expectancy

Question 12

What 8s the physician’s responsibility in filling out a death certificate?

Answer 12

“In fulfilling the role of the certifier (the person completing the medical part of the death certificate), the physician performs the final act of care to a patient by providing closure with a well- thought-out and complete death certificate that will allow the family to close the person’s affairs. At the same time, the physician performs a service for the larger community.”

• Physician’s Handbook on Medical Certification of Death Remember, death certificate is a legal document that you sign!

Question 13

What should a physician do for a death certificate ?

Answer 13

Physician must:

• Be familiar with state and local regulations regarding medical certifications
• Complete relevant portions of death certificate
• Deliver signed certificate promptly to funeral director
• Answers questions from state or local registrar, if asked
• Provide supplemental report if autopsy reveals different cause of death

Question 14

What is the first part of the cause of death section?

Answer 14

Question 15

Describe the immediate cause of the death certificate

Answer 15

Final disease, injury, or complication directly causing death

• NOT mode of dying or terminal event (e.g., cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest)
• Cannot be left blank

Question 16

Describe the “due to or as a consequence of”

Answer 16

Report any disease, injury, or complication that
• gave rise to
• had etiologic or pathologic basis, OR
• condition is believed to have prepared way for subsequent
cause of death by damage to tissues or impairment of function

• Underlying cause of death should be listed last
• If immediate cause of death arose as complication of or error in medical/surgical treatment, report complication or error, procedure, and condition being treated

Question 17

How should other contributing factors, contribute to a person’s death on their death certificate?

Answer 17

• Report all other important diseases present at time of death, even if unrelated

• Can list more than one condition, even though only one line provided
• Q33. Autopsy?
• Q35. Tobacco-related? (new in 2003)
• Q36. Pregnancy
• Q37. Manner of death

• Natural, Accident, Suicide, Homicide, Pending investigation, Could not be
determined

• Q38-44. Injury-related items (usually done by medical examiner / coroner

Question 18

What are the ICD-cause of death codes?

Answer 18

International Classification of Diseases
• Published by World Health Organization
• Currently using 10th revision
• Code for every cause of death, with sub-codes and sub-codes
• Every cause listed on death certificate receives a code
• Nosologist (and/or computer) determines official underlying cause of death using algorithms (sometimes complex)

Question 19

What are the types death (mortality) rate?

Answer 19

Definition: frequency of death in a defined population during a specified period

Many types, including:
• Crude death rate
• Cause-specific death rate
• Age-specific death rate
• Infant mortality rate
• Maternal mortality rate
• Maternal mortality ratio
• Case fatality rate
• Proportionate mortality rate

Question 20

What is mortality?

Answer 20

Question 21

What is the crude death rate?

Answer 21

Question 22

Give an example of calculating crude death rate

Answer 22

Question 23

How do we find the cause-specific death rate?

Answer 23

Question 24

How do we calculate age-specific death rate

Answer 24

Question 25

What is a neonatal mortality rate, infant mortality rate and under-five mortality rates?

Answer 25

Question 26

How do we calculate infant mortality rate?

Answer 26

Question 27

How do we calculate the maternal mortality rate?

Answer 27

Question 28

What is maternal mortality ratio?

Answer 28

Question 29

What are case fatality rates?

Answer 29

Question 30

What is the proportionate mortality rate?

Answer 30