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Suraweera W, Warrell D, Whitaker R, Menon G, Rodrigues R, Fu SH, Begum R, Sati P, Piyasena K, Bhatia M, Brown P, Jha P. Trends in snakebite deaths in India from 2000 to 2019 in a nationally representative mortality study. eLife 2020; 9:e54076. [PMID: 32633232 PMCID: PMC7340498 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The World Health Organization call to halve global snakebite deaths by 2030 will require substantial progress in India. We analyzed 2833 snakebite deaths from 611,483 verbal autopsies in the nationally representative Indian Million Death Study from 2001 to 2014, and conducted a systematic literature review from 2000 to 2019 covering 87,590 snakebites. We estimate that India had 1.2 million snakebite deaths (average 58,000/year) from 2000 to 2019. Nearly half occurred at ages 30-69 years and over a quarter in children < 15 years. Most occurred at home in the rural areas. About 70% occurred in eight higher burden states and half during the rainy season and at low altitude. The risk of an Indian dying from snakebite before age 70 is about 1 in 250, but notably higher in some areas. More crudely, we estimate 1.11-1.77 million bites in 2015, of which 70% showed symptoms of envenomation. Prevention and treatment strategies might substantially reduce snakebite mortality in India.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wilson Suraweera
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
| | - David Warrell
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
| | - Romulus Whitaker
- Centre for Herpetology/Madras Crocodile Bank, Vadanemmeli VillageChennaiIndia
| | - Geetha Menon
- Indian Council of Medical Research, Ansari NagarNew DelhiIndia
| | - Rashmi Rodrigues
- Department of Community Health, St. John's Medical College, St. John's National Academy of Health SciencesBangaloreIndia
| | - Sze Hang Fu
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Rehana Begum
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Prabha Sati
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Kapila Piyasena
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Mehak Bhatia
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
| | - Patrick Brown
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
- Department of Statistical Sciences, University of TorontoTorontoCanada
| | - Prabhat Jha
- Centre for Global Health Research, Unity Health Toronto, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoOntarioCanada
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Jha P, Kumar D, Dikshit R, Budukh A, Begum R, Sati P, Kolpak P, Wen R, Raithatha SJ, Shah U, Li ZR, Aleksandrowicz L, Shah P, Piyasena K, McCormick TH, Gelband H, Clark SJ. Automated versus physician assignment of cause of death for verbal autopsies: randomized trial of 9374 deaths in 117 villages in India. BMC Med 2019; 17:116. [PMID: 31242925 PMCID: PMC6595581 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-019-1353-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2018] [Accepted: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Verbal autopsies with physician assignment of cause of death (COD) are commonly used in settings where medical certification of deaths is uncommon. It remains unanswered if automated algorithms can replace physician assignment. METHODS We randomized verbal autopsy interviews for deaths in 117 villages in rural India to either physician or automated COD assignment. Twenty-four trained lay (non-medical) surveyors applied the allocated method using a laptop-based electronic system. Two of 25 physicians were allocated randomly to independently code the deaths in the physician assignment arm. Six algorithms (Naïve Bayes Classifier (NBC), King-Lu, InSilicoVA, InSilicoVA-NT, InterVA-4, and SmartVA) coded each death in the automated arm. The primary outcome was concordance with the COD distribution in the standard physician-assigned arm. Four thousand six hundred fifty-one (4651) deaths were allocated to physician (standard), and 4723 to automated arms. RESULTS The two arms were nearly identical in demographics and key symptom patterns. The average concordances of automated algorithms with the standard were 62%, 56%, and 59% for adult, child, and neonatal deaths, respectively. Automated algorithms showed inconsistent results, even for causes that are relatively easy to identify such as road traffic injuries. Automated algorithms underestimated the number of cancer and suicide deaths in adults and overestimated other injuries in adults and children. Across all ages, average weighted concordance with the standard was 62% (range 79-45%) with the best to worst ranking automated algorithms being InterVA-4, InSilicoVA-NT, InSilicoVA, SmartVA, NBC, and King-Lu. Individual-level sensitivity for causes of adult deaths in the automated arm was low between the algorithms but high between two independent physicians in the physician arm. CONCLUSIONS While desirable, automated algorithms require further development and rigorous evaluation. Lay reporting of deaths paired with physician COD assignment of verbal autopsies, despite some limitations, remains a practicable method to document the patterns of mortality reliably for unattended deaths. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT02810366. Submitted on 11 April 2016.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prabhat Jha
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Dinesh Kumar
- Department of Community Medicine, Pramukhswami Medical College, Anand, Gujarat, India
| | - Rajesh Dikshit
- Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, India
| | - Atul Budukh
- Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, India
| | - Rehana Begum
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Prabha Sati
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Patrycja Kolpak
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Richard Wen
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Utkarsh Shah
- Department of Community Medicine, Pramukhswami Medical College, Anand, Gujarat, India
| | | | | | - Prakash Shah
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Kapila Piyasena
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Tyler H McCormick
- Department of Statistics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.,Department of Sociology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
| | - Hellen Gelband
- Centre for Global Health Research, St Michael's Hospital and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Samuel J Clark
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.,Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
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