Abstract
Background
Time-critical conditions (TCC) are estimated to cause substantial mortality in low and middle-income countries. However, quantification of deaths and identification of contributing factors to those deaths is challenging in settings with poor health records.
Aim
To use verbal autopsy (VA) data from the Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system in rural South Africa to quantify the burden of deaths from TCC and to evaluate the barriers in seeking, reaching, and receiving quality care for TCC leading to death.
Methodology
Deaths from 1993 to 2015 were analysed to identify causality from TCC. Deaths due to TCC were categorised as communicable, non-communicable, maternal, neonatal, or injury-related. Proportion of deaths from TCC by age, sex, condition type, and temporal trends were described. Deaths due to TCC from 2012 to 2015 were further examined by circumstances of mortality (CoM) indicators embedded in VA. Healthcare access, at illness onset and during the final day of life, as well as place of death, was extracted from free text summaries. Summaries were also analysed qualitatively using a three delays framework to identify barriers to healthcare.
Results
Of 15305 deaths, 5885 (38.45%) were due to TCC. Non-communicable diseases were the most prevalent cause of death from TCC (2961/5885 cases, 50.31%). CoM indicators highlighted delays in a quarter of deaths due to TCC, most frequently in seeking care. The most common pattern of healthcare access was to die outwith a facility, having sought no healthcare (409/1324 cases, 30.89%). Issues in receipt of quality care were identified by qualitative analysis.
Conclusion
TCC are responsible for a substantial burden of deaths in this rural South African population. Delays in seeking and receiving quality care were more prominent than those in reaching care, and thus further research and solution development should focus on healthcare seeking behaviour and quality care provision.
Time-critical conditions (TCC) are estimated to cause substantial mortality in low and middle-income countries. However, quantification of deaths and identification of contributing factors to those deaths is challenging in settings with poor health records.
Aim
To use verbal autopsy (VA) data from the Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system in rural South Africa to quantify the burden of deaths from TCC and to evaluate the barriers in seeking, reaching, and receiving quality care for TCC leading to death.
Methodology
Deaths from 1993 to 2015 were analysed to identify causality from TCC. Deaths due to TCC were categorised as communicable, non-communicable, maternal, neonatal, or injury-related. Proportion of deaths from TCC by age, sex, condition type, and temporal trends were described. Deaths due to TCC from 2012 to 2015 were further examined by circumstances of mortality (CoM) indicators embedded in VA. Healthcare access, at illness onset and during the final day of life, as well as place of death, was extracted from free text summaries. Summaries were also analysed qualitatively using a three delays framework to identify barriers to healthcare.
Results
Of 15305 deaths, 5885 (38.45%) were due to TCC. Non-communicable diseases were the most prevalent cause of death from TCC (2961/5885 cases, 50.31%). CoM indicators highlighted delays in a quarter of deaths due to TCC, most frequently in seeking care. The most common pattern of healthcare access was to die outwith a facility, having sought no healthcare (409/1324 cases, 30.89%). Issues in receipt of quality care were identified by qualitative analysis.
Conclusion
TCC are responsible for a substantial burden of deaths in this rural South African population. Delays in seeking and receiving quality care were more prominent than those in reaching care, and thus further research and solution development should focus on healthcare seeking behaviour and quality care provision.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e002289 |
| Journal | BMJ Global Health |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Apr 2020 |
Keywords
- Time-critical conditions
- delays to care
- quality care
- death
- verbal autopsy
- South Africa
