Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Oct 31;9(1):108-113.
doi: 10.1016/j.ekir.2023.10.026. eCollection 2024 Jan.

CKD is the Major Cause of Death in Uddanam: A Population-Representative Study Using Smart Verbal Autopsy

Balaji Gummidi  1 , Vaishali Gautam  1 , Renu John  1 , Rohina Joshi  1   2 , Oommen John  1   3 , Vivekanand Jha  1   3   4   5
Affiliations

CKD is the Major Cause of Death in Uddanam: A Population-Representative Study Using Smart Verbal Autopsy

Balaji Gummidi et al. Kidney Int Rep. .

Abstract

Introduction: Uddanam is an agricultural area with a high burden of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu). Despite reports of many deaths due to CKD in the lay press, the exact contribution of CKD to deaths remains uncertain because most deaths occur outside medical care.

Methods: We used SmartVA automated verbal autopsy tool to ascertain the cause-specific mortality fractions among a 2419 subject-strong general population cohort of adult subjects in Uddanam between 2018 and 2022. Verbal autopsy interviews were conducted twice with the family members of the deceased.

Results: A total of 133 deaths were recorded, giving a crude death rate of 5.5%, 10 times higher than that recorded in national surveys. CKD was responsible for 45% of all deaths, followed by ischemic heart disease (15%) and respiratory disease (6%).

Conclusion: This study confirms CKD as the leading cause of mortality in this high CKD burden area and provides crucial data for public health decision-making and resource allocation.

Keywords: CKD of unknown etiology; SmartVA; cause of death; chronic kidney disease; uddanam nephropathy; verbal autopsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Cause-specific mortality fractions for leading causes of death from verbal autopsy data in the STOP-CKDu cohort, Uddanam region (N = 133) compared with Global Burden of Disease estimates for India (age >20 years).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bikbov B., Purcell C.A., Levey A.S. Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2020;395:709–733. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30045-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dare A.J., Fu S.H., Patra J., et al. Renal failure deaths and their risk factors in India 2001-13: nationally representative estimates from the Million Death Study. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5:e89–e95. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30308-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson S.C., Cunningham M., Dippenaar I.N., et al. Public health utility of cause of death data: applying empirical algorithms to improve data quality. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2021;21:175. doi: 10.1186/s12911-021-01501-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Annual report on medical certification of cause of death, 2020. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner India. Published 2020. https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/42681
    1. WHO. Verbal autopsy standards: the 2016 WHO verbal autopsy instrument. Published 2016. https://score.tools.who.int/tools/count-births-deaths-and-causes-of-deat...

LinkOut - more resources