Strengthening Mortality Statistics for Health Programs in Malaysia: Lessons from the Field

Rao, Chalapati; Omar, Mohammad Azahadi; Ganapathy, Shubash Shander; Tamin, Nor Saleha Ibrahim

doi:10.2991/dsahmj.k.191214.003

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Mortality outcomes were determined via linkage with the National Mortality Database from the National Registration Department and Department of Statistics by matching on the national identification number or passport number for foreign nationalities in combination with date of birth and sex [6]. Overall, death registration in Malaysia has a coverage of more than 90%; there is complete registration in West Malaysia but under-reporting remains in East Malaysia (comprising the states of Sabah and Sarawak) [6][7][8]. Deaths in hospitals were medically-certified by attending physicians or coroners.…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends for Readmission and Mortality After Heart Failure Hospitalisation in Malaysia, 2007 to 2016

Lim

Ong

Koudstaal

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background and objectives: Data on population-level outcomes after heart failure (HF) hospitalisation in Asia is sparse. This study aimed to estimate readmission and mortality after hospitalisation among HF patients and examine temporal variation by sex and ethnicity.Methods: Data for 105,399 patients who had incident HF hospitalisations from 2007 to 2016 were identified from a national discharge database and linked to death registration records. The outcomes assessed here were 30-day readmission, inhospital, 30-day and one-year all-cause mortality.Results: Eighteen percent of patients (n = 16786) were readmitted within 30 days. Mortality rates were 5.3% (95% confidence interval (CI) 5.1-5.4%), 11.2% (11.0-11.4%) and 33.1% (32.9-33.4%) for in-hospital, 30-day and 1-year mortality after the index admission. Age, sex and ethnicity-adjusted 30-day readmissions increased by 2% per calendar year while in-hospital and 30-day mortality declined by 7% and 4% per year respectively. One-year mortality rates remained constant during the study period. Men were at higher risk of 30-day readmission (adjusted rate ratio (RR) 1.16, 1.13-1.20) and one-year mortality (RR 1.17, 1.15-1.19) than women. Ethnic differences in outcomes were evident. Readmission rates were equally high in Chinese and Indians relative to Malays whereas Others, which mainly comprised Indigenous groups, fared worst for in-hospital and 30-day mortality with RR 1.84 (1.64-2.07) and 1.3 (1.21-1.41) relative to Malays.Conclusions: Short-term survival was improving across sex and ethnic groups but prognosis at one year after incident HF hospitalisation remained poor. The steady increase in 30-day readmission rates deserves further investigation.

show abstract

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends for Readmission and Mortality After Heart Failure Hospitalisation in Malaysia, 2007 to 2016

Lim

Ong

Koudstaal

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…( 3 ) Reducing NMCDs would strengthen mortality statistics and contribute to better health planning. ( 4 )…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Conducting verbal autopsy by telephone interview during the pandemic to support mortality surveillance: a feasibility study in Malaysia

Nasaruddin

Ganapathy

Awaluddin

et al. 2022

WPSAR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Verbal autopsy (VA) through face-to-face interviews with caregivers is a way to determine cause of death without medical certification. In Malaysia, the use of VA has improved mortality statistics. However, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, face-to-face interviews were delayed, reducing VA data collection and affecting data for mortality surveillance. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of conducting VA interviews via telephone calls, and the quality of the data gathered. Methods: The study was conducted in Malaysia from September to October 2020 using a cross-sectional design. Participants were health-care workers from established VA teams across the country. They conducted VA interviews via telephone and provided feedback through a customized online form. Data collected from the form were used to assess the feasibility, acceptability and quality of the telephone interviews using IBM SPSS version 23. Results: Responses were received from 113 participants. There were 74 (65.5%) successful interviews, representing 91% of the 81 cases who were able to be contacted. More than two thirds of health-care workers provided positive feedback on the telephone interview method for themselves and the interviewees. Only 10.8% of causes of death were unusable. Discussion: This study provides preliminary evidence that VA via telephone interview is feasible, acceptable and can be used as an alternative to face-to-face interviews without affecting data quality. During times when face-to-face interviews are not advisable, VA telephone interviews can be used for data collection for mortality surveillance.

show abstract

“…This is achieved by increasing the proportion of deaths with medically certified causes through the VA initiative. This was initiated in 2017, through a national circular by the Director General of Health Malaysia, mandating a national system for verification of non-medically certified deaths using the VA methodology ( 12 ). The circular prescribes that causes of death for non-medically certified deaths should be verified using VA questionnaires.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-communicable Disease Surveillance in Malaysia: An Overview of Existing Systems and Priorities Going Forward

Chandran

Kumar

Hairi

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) set a comprehensive set of nine global voluntary targets, including the landmark “25 by 25” mortality reduction target, and 25 indicators. WHO has also highlighted the importance of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) surveillance as a key action by Member States in addressing NCDs. This study aimed to examine the current national NCD surveillance tools, activities and performance in Malaysia based on the WHO Global Monitoring Framework for NCDs and to highlight gaps and priorities moving forward. A desk review was conducted from August to October in 2020, to examine the current national NCD surveillance activities in Malaysia from multiple sources. Policy and program documents relating to NCD surveillance in Malaysia from 2010 to 2020 were identified and analyzed. The findings of this review are presented according to the three major themes of the Global Monitoring Framework: monitoring of exposure/risk factor, monitoring of outcomes and health system capacity/response. Currently, there is a robust monitoring system for NCD Surveillance in Malaysia for indicators that are monitored by the WHO NCD Global Monitoring Framework, particularly for outcome and exposure monitoring. However, Malaysia still lacks data for the surveillance of the health system indicators of the framework. Although Malaysia has an NCD surveillance in place that is adequate for the WHO NCD Global Monitoring Framework, there are areas that require strengthening. The country must also look beyond these set of indicators in view of the increasing burden and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes incorporating mental health indicators and leveraging on alternate sources of data relating to behaviors.

show abstract

Strengthening Mortality Statistics for Health Programs in Malaysia: Lessons from the Field

Cited by 4 publications

References 4 publications

Trends for Readmission and Mortality After Heart Failure Hospitalisation in Malaysia, 2007 to 2016

Trends for Readmission and Mortality After Heart Failure Hospitalisation in Malaysia, 2007 to 2016

Conducting verbal autopsy by telephone interview during the pandemic to support mortality surveillance: a feasibility study in Malaysia

Non-communicable Disease Surveillance in Malaysia: An Overview of Existing Systems and Priorities Going Forward

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About