Tuberculosis mortality in a rural population from South India

Abstract

General mortality rate (GMR) is an essential indicator for assessing the health status of a community. Tuberculosis (TB) mortality is an indicator for the Millennium Development Goal for 2015. This community-based retrospective survey was conducted in 2007-2008 on a sample of 114,605 rural populations living in 56 villages randomly selected from 218 villages in Tiruvallur district, South India, where the DOTS strategy was implemented in 1999. All the permanent residents of the households were registered and information on occurrence of death was recorded. All the deaths were investigated by verbal autopsy (VA) using standardized methods. A total of 719 deaths were registered. The GMR and tuberculosis mortality rate (TMR) were 648 (95% CI: 568-727) and 39 (95% CI: 25-52) per 100,000 p-yrs, respectively. The GMR increased with age, and was higher in males than females at all ages. The TMR was higher in males than females and the overall male:female ratio was 5:1. TB was the 6th leading cause of death overall and the 2nd leading cause among men in this area. Strategies to reduce TB death should be implemented and the impact should be monitored by repeat VA studies.