Verbal Autopsy:Reimagining data and automated cause assignment (using ALPHA network data)
South Africa, 2000 - 2020
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Reference ID
AHRI.NIH.Verbal.Autopsy.Dataset.v1
Producer(s)
Sam Clark, Clara Calvert, Milly Marston, Yue Chu
Metadata
Created on
Jun 08, 2022
Last modified
Jun 08, 2022
Page views
7087
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Identification
Survey ID Number
AHRI.NIH.Verbal.Autopsy.Dataset.v1
Title
Verbal Autopsy:Reimagining data and automated cause assignment (using ALPHA network data)
Country
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zar |
Study type
Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS)
Series Information
The ALPHA (Analysing Longitudinal Population-based HIV/AIDS Data in Africa) Network is a collaboration among 10 longitudinal studies in sub-Saharan Africa. These studies collect data on HIV infection alongside demographic, behavioural, socio-economic and clinical data from residents of the study areas. The Network harmonises these data and conducts comparable and pooled analyses on HIV-related research questions.The ALPHA HIV Incidence and Mortality data,uMkhanyakude is part of the international data harmonisation and analysis programme of the ALPHA network.
Abstract
The overall aim of the grant is to develop affordable, robust, calibrated methods to assign causes to individual deaths and characterize the distribution of deaths by cause from verbal autopsy (VA) data. As part of ALPHA, all partners are being asked to provide their VA data (all ages) alongside any physician review data available, residency data and HIV data for secondary analysis to address the following objectives:
(i) Preparing VA data in a standardised format, and comparing sex- and age- specific cause-specific mortality fractions across different ALPHA partner study areas
(ii) Assessing the performance of automated methods for assigning causes of death based on verbal autopsy data, against physician review or HIV sero-survey data (where each of these data sources are available)
Once these secondary data have been shared with the ALPHA team, we will check the data for consistency and integrity and clean them with the help of the owners of the data and merge the clean data to form a pooled data set. In collaboration with the team at The Ohio State University, we will prepare distributions of deaths by causes using automated methods, and calculate the cause-specific mortality fractions and rates stratified by key socio-demographic characteristics of the population and look at how they change over time. The performance of automated methods will be assessed in comparison to physician review assignment of cause of death or HIV sero-survey data. These results and outputs will be shared with each partner, with opportunity to provide input, and be involved with writing any papers.
(i) Preparing VA data in a standardised format, and comparing sex- and age- specific cause-specific mortality fractions across different ALPHA partner study areas
(ii) Assessing the performance of automated methods for assigning causes of death based on verbal autopsy data, against physician review or HIV sero-survey data (where each of these data sources are available)
Once these secondary data have been shared with the ALPHA team, we will check the data for consistency and integrity and clean them with the help of the owners of the data and merge the clean data to form a pooled data set. In collaboration with the team at The Ohio State University, we will prepare distributions of deaths by causes using automated methods, and calculate the cause-specific mortality fractions and rates stratified by key socio-demographic characteristics of the population and look at how they change over time. The performance of automated methods will be assessed in comparison to physician review assignment of cause of death or HIV sero-survey data. These results and outputs will be shared with each partner, with opportunity to provide input, and be involved with writing any papers.
Kind of Data
Surveillance Data
Unit of Analysis
Each observation describes either an individual or an individual's period of residence in a household.
Version
Version Description
Version 1.0.0
Scope
Topics
| Topic | Vocabulary | URI |
|---|---|---|
| Demography; Epidemiology; HIV; Mortality; Verbal Autopsy | Africa Health Research Institute | www.ahri.org |
Keywords
| Keyword | Vocabulary | URI |
|---|---|---|
| Mortality; Verbal Autopsy; InSilicoVA; cause of death; ALPHA; ALPHA network | Africa Health Research Institute | www.ahri.org |
Coverage
Geographic Coverage
South Africa
Geographic Unit
Village
Universe
Household members of the Africa Health Research Institute Population Intervention Programme Study Area
Producers and sponsors
Primary investigators
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Sam Clark | The Ohio State University |
| Clara Calvert | LSHTM |
| Milly Marston | LSHTM |
| Yue Chu | The Ohio State University |
Producers
| Name |
|---|
| Africa Health Research Institute |
Funding Agency/Sponsor
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health | NIH |
Sampling
Sampling Procedure
Household demographic Surveillance
Data Collection
Dates of Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2000-01-01 | 2020-12-31 |
Data Collection Mode
Face-to-face [f2f]
Data Collection Notes
ALPHA data are harmonised datasets from ALPHA member sites and this dataset is from the Africa Health Research Institute.
Data Collectors
| Name |
|---|
| Africa Health Research Institute |
Questionnaires
Questionnaires
The original unharmonised data was collected by the Africa Health Research Institute
Access policy
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst helpdesk | University of Cape Town | support@data1st.org | www.support.data1st.org |
Access conditions
Licensed access data, available under conditions
Access authority
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | support@data1st.org |
Archive where study is originally stored
Karonga (MW011)
Metadata production
DDI Document ID
NIH.Verbal.Autopsy.Dataset.v1
Producers
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Africa Health Research Institute | AHRI |
Date of Metadata Production
2022-03-21
DDI Document version
v01