COVID-19 death: A novel method of improving its identification when a patient has multiple diagnoses

Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases

 
 
Field Value
 
Title COVID-19 death: A novel method of improving its identification when a patient has multiple diagnoses
 
Creator Ngene, Nnabuike C. Moodley, Jagidesa
 
Subject COVID-19; COVID death; Obstetrics cause of death; COVID-19 death; death statistics; modified NJ model II; principal diagnosis
Description Assigning a primary cause of death to a deceased patient who had multiple principal diagnoses including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is challenging because of the difficulty in selecting the most appropriate cause. To proffer a solution, the authors reviewed the literature on assigning a primary cause of death. In 2015, the Nnabuike-Jagidesa (NJ) model II was devised to improve the International Classification of Diseases and related health problems, 10th revision (ICD-10) guideline on how to assign a primary cause of death. The NJ model II stipulates that when there are multiple diagnoses with no plausible explanation that one of the illnesses could have resulted in the other clinical conditions, the single most appropriate primary cause of death is the condition with the highest case fatality ratio in that setting. In the index report, the authors opine that if the case fatality ratios are similar, the following objective criteria (listed in the order of priority) should be used to assign a primary cause of death: condition with the highest infection fatality ratio, condition that was the main indication for the last acute surgical or invasive procedure performed (during the course of the same ill-health) before the death and the disease that theoretically affects the highest number of body organs. Additionally, a clinical descriptor should be used when none of the objective criteria are satisfied. This novel approach, termed the modified NJ model II, is expected to improve the objectivity and reproducibility of the assigned primary cause of death in a deceased who had multiple diagnoses, which may include COVID-19.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2022-04-26
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Opinion paper
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajid.v37i1.349
 
Source Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases; Vol 37, No 1 (2022); 4 pages 2313-1810 2312-0053
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/349/941 https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/349/942 https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/349/943 https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/349/944
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Prof Jack Chibuoke Moodley, Jagidesa Moodley, Jagidesa Moodley https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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