Methods for assessment of the mortality surveillance system and their application

Objective This study was designed to investigate the methods for the quality assessment of mortality surveillance system. Methods Comprehensive index analysis was used in the study to assess the quality of mortality surveillance system. The indicators include the rate of reported hospitals, CDC rate of review, the speed of report, report quality, underreport rate, data quality, and accuracy of underlying cause of death. Results The frequency analysis suggested the rate of reported hospitals was 83.62%, CDC rate of review 98.42%, the timing of report and review which met the requirement set by national CDC were 60.78% and 94.27%, respectively. Underreport rate was estimated 36.64%,and missing value took up 1.62%. The accuracy was 52.71% for death chain, and 82.22% for underlying cause of death. Conclusion The investigation of mortality surveillance system in Taiyuan suggested the effectiveness of quality assessment for improving the quality of mortality surveillance system. According to quality assessment, emphasis should be made to reduce the underreport rate and increase the accuracy of underlying cause of death in mortality surveillance in the future in Taiyuan.