Browsing by Author "Kidest Lulu"

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    Determinants and Causes of Adult Mortality in Butajira
    (Addis Ababa University, 2000-12) Kidest Lulu; Yemane Berhane
    Information on adult mortality is essentially non-existent in Ethiopia as in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. This nested case-control study was conducted with the aim of assessing sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with adult death in Butajira, Ethiopia. All deaths in the age-group 15-49 years during 1995-99 were taken as cases and unmatched controls of age 15-49 years were selected randomly from the computerized demographic surveillance database. Data were collected by lay interviewers using a simplified verbal --autopsy questionnaire. Crude-and adjusted odds ratio-with-95%-confidence interval were calculated to determine associations. Causes of death were diagnosed using an "expert algorithm" programmed into a computer. A total of 515 deaths and 1507 controls were interviewed. The major determinants of mortality identified are age-groups 30-39 and 40-49 years (OR 2.99, 95%CI 1.91-4.71 and OR4.01, 95%CI 2.49-6.46), male sex (OR 1.46, 95%CI 1.09-1.95), living in a rural lowland area (OR 1.54, 95%CI 1.03-2.31), single marital status (OR 1.63, 95%CI 1.13-2.35), having no educated person in the family (OR 1.91, 95%CI 1.11-3.29), being unemployed (OR 1.40, 95%CI 1.01-1.82), and poor and very poor perceived economic status (OR 1.97, 95%CI 1.31-2.94 and OR 2.98, 95%CI 1.73-5.13). The major causes of death observed were acute febrile illnesses (25.2%), liver diseases (11.3%), diarrhoeal diseases (11.1%), tuberculosis (9.7%) and lllV/AIDS (7.4%). Communicable diseases accounted for 60.8% of the deaths. The factors associated with mortality and the high level of mortality from communicable diseases reflect the poor socioeconomic development of the country and inadequate coverage as a whole in education, health and poverty alleviation. Therefore, efforts should be directed at planning and implementing cost-effective interventions to decrease morbidity and mortality particularly from communicable diseases. Emphasis needs to be given also to poverty alleviation programmed.