Causes of Death in Indian Children Aged 5 to 14 Years
Author Information
Author(s): Morris Shaun K., Bassani Diego G., Awasthi Shally, Kumar Rajesh, Shet Anita, Suraweera Wilson, Jha Prabhat
Primary Institution: Centre for Global Health Research, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto
Hypothesis
What are the major causes of death among children aged 5 to 14 years in India?
Conclusion
Approximately 60% of all deaths in this age group are due to infectious diseases, with diarrhea and pneumonia being the leading causes.
Supporting Evidence
- Infectious diseases accounted for 58% of all deaths among children aged 5 to 14 years.
- About 18% of deaths were due to diarrheal diseases.
- Mortality was nearly 50% higher in girls than in boys for both diarrheal diseases and pneumonia.
- Approximately 59,000 children died from diarrheal diseases in 2005.
- Approximately 34,000 children died from pneumonia in 2005.
Takeaway
Many children in India aged 5 to 14 years die from infections like diarrhea and pneumonia, especially girls.
Methodology
The study used a verbal autopsy based assessment of deaths from a nationally representative survey.
Potential Biases
Potential misclassification of causes of death due to reliance on verbal autopsy.
Limitations
Verbal autopsy may misclassify causes of death, and underlying medical conditions contributing to deaths were not assessed.
Participant Demographics
Children aged 5 to 14 years in India.
Statistical Information
Confidence Interval
99% CI; 51,900 to 68,700
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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