Guidance for Systematic Integration of Undernutrition in Attributing Cause of Death in Children

Overview

Journal Clin Infect Dis

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2021 Dec 15

PMID 34910171

Citations 5

Authors

Christina R Paganelli

Nicholas Kassebaum

Kathleen Strong

Parminder S Suchdev

Wieger Voskuijl

Quique Bassat

Dianna M Blau

Donna M Denno

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) is increasingly being used to better understand causes of death in low-resource settings. Undernutrition (eg, wasting, stunting) is prevalent among children globally and yet not consistently coded or uniformly included on death certificates in MITS studies when present. Consistent and accurate attribution of undernutrition is fundamental to understanding its contribution to child deaths. In May 2020, members of the MITS Alliance Cause of Death Technical Working Group convened a panel of experts in public health, child health, nutrition, infectious diseases, and MITS to develop guidance for systematic integration of undernutrition, as assessed by anthropometry, in cause of death coding, including as part of the causal chain or as a contributing condition, in children <5 years of age. The guidance presented here will support MITS and other researchers, public health practitioners, and clinicians with a systematic approach to assigning and interpreting undernutrition in death certification.

Citing Articles

Importance of postmortem anthropometric evaluation in defining the role of malnutrition as a cause of infant and child deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: a cohort study.

Das P, Madewell Z, Blau D, Whitney C, Ramakrishnan U, Stein A BMJ Open. 2025; 15(2):e089874.

PMID: 39961713 PMC: 11836817. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-089874.

Contribution of malnutrition to infant and child deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Madewell Z, Keita A, Das P, Mehta A, Akelo V, Oluoch O BMJ Glob Health. 2024; 9(12).

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Determinants of the food insecurity at household level in Pakistan: A multilevel model approach.

Mahmood T, Kumar R, Ali T, Naeem N, Pongpanich S PLoS One. 2023; 18(10):e0291343.

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Causes of Death Among Infants and Children in the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network.

Bassat Q, Blau D, Ogbuanu I, Samura S, Kaluma E, Bassey I JAMA Netw Open. 2023; 6(7):e2322494.

PMID: 37494044 PMC: 10372710. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.22494.

Minimally Invasive Postmortem Intestinal Tissue Sampling in Malnourished and Acutely Ill Children Is Feasible and Informative.

Feutz E, Voskuijl W, Finch P, Liu T, Bandsma R, Tarr P Clin Infect Dis. 2021; 73(Suppl_5):S382-S389.

PMID: 34910181 PMC: 8672761. DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciab790.

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