Expert commentary explores combining verbal autopsy with diagnostic pathology in populations lacking death registration, highlighting pathways to improve global mortality metrics.
Key Points
To examine how integrating diagnostic pathology autopsies with verbal autopsies can improve cause-of-death determination and mortality surveillance in regions lacking functional civil registration systems.
Assessed the procedural roles of traditional diagnostic pathology autopsy, including dissection, histology, and molecular analysis, alongside verbal autopsy interviews.
Reviewed verbal autopsy methodologies involving structured caregiver interviews and computerized algorithmic systems for cause-of-death classification.
Highlighted validation approaches referencing the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC) dataset comprising over 12,000 hospitalized cases with clinically established causes of death.
Verbal autopsy remains the primary tool for tracking cause-specific mortality for more than two-thirds of the global population lacking functional vital registration systems.
Synergizing physical pathology autopsies with verbal autopsy surveys provides a critical benchmark to calibrate and enhance algorithmic cause-of-death classification systems.