Evaluation of Incompleteness and Inconsistency in the Suicide Mortality Information System: A Time Series Analysis in Espírito Santo, Brazil (2014-2019).

Abstract

Abstract Background: Analysis of Health Systems databases is an essential process for planning, developing and evaluating health policies. This process provides evidence on the health needs of the population for public managers. Objective: To evaluate and analyze the in-completeness and inconsistency of the Suicide Mortality Information System in Espírito Santo, between 2014-2019. Methods: This is a time series study. Secondary data from the Mortality Information System on deaths by suicide between 2014-2019 were used. For de-scriptive analysis, the proportions of incompleteness and inconsistencies were used. The temporal trend analysis of incompleteness and inconsistency was performed using Prais-Winsten regression. Results: During the study period (2014-2019), there were 1,230 deaths by suicide, with the suicide mortality rate ranging from 4.55 (2014) to 6.17 (2019)/100,000 inhabitants. Variables with a growing trend of incompleteness were “Gender” (p = 0.026), “Marital status” (p = 0.010) and “Medical care” (0.027). The variables with a decreasing tendency were: “Necropsy” (p = 0.027) and “Code of the Municipality of Occurrence” (p = 0.027). The variables “Code of the Municipality of Occurrence” (p = 0.132) and “Necropsy” × “Investigation” (p = 0.177) show a constant tendency towards inconsistency. Conclusion: The study allowed the analysis of the Mortality Information System for deaths by suicide in the state of Espírito Santo. The incompleteness of information in the Mortality Information System is not homogeneous between the analyzed variables. As for the incompleteness and inconsistency of the variables, the variables “Gender”, “Age”, “Date of Birth” and “Date of Death” show excellent quality. Keywords: Health Information Management, Health Information Systems, Information Systems, Suicide.