Table 2.
Distribution of lay reports of causes of death by sex (Addis Ababa, age 20–64, 2002 and 2007)
| 2002 |
2007 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men % a | Women % a | Total | Men % a | Women % a | Total N | |
| 1. Communicable diseases | 57.0 | 62.4 | 6,393 | 44.5 | 49.9 | 3,930 |
|
| ||||||
| Tuberculosis/Lung disease | 28.1 | 28.5 | 3,034 | 18.0 | 18.6 | 1,528 |
| Cold | 19.1 | 23.3 | 2,261 | 13.7 | 16.2 | 1,244 |
| Acute febrile illness | 4.2 | 3.6 | 420 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 204 |
| AIDS | 1.3 | 1.6 | 151 | 2.8 | 4.8 | 312 |
| Diarrheal diseases | 1.5 | 1.9 | 185 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 134 |
| Herpes zoster/Oral candidiasis | 0.7 | 1.5 | 114 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 33 |
| Other | 2.1 | 2.1 | 228 | 5.4 | 6.0 | 475 |
| 2. Maternal causes | - | 2.4 | 120 | - | 2.9 | 116 |
|
| ||||||
| 3. Non-communicable diseases | 26.3 | 28.4 | 2,926 | 36.0 | 40.9 | 3,197 |
|
| ||||||
| Cardiovascular disorders | 5.7 | 7.3 | 693 | 10.1 | 11.2 | 887 |
| Liver cirrhosis b | 6.7 | 4.5 | 609 | 8.2 | 6.0 | 593 |
| Neoplasms | 2.3 | 4.0 | 331 | 3.5 | 8.2 | 481 |
| Renal disorders | 3.1 | 3.2 | 334 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 317 |
| Diabetes | 2.1 | 1.8 | 209 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 253 |
| Other | 6.4 | 7.6 | 750 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 666 |
| 4. Symptoms, signs and syndromes | 5.4 | 5.4 | 579 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 438 |
|
| ||||||
| Mental problem | 2.8 | 1.9 | 257 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 231 |
| Emaciation/Cough | 0.1 | 0.2 | 16 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 12 |
| Other | 2.4 | 3.3 | 306 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 195 |
| 5. External causes | 11.3 | 3.8 | 636 | 14.3 | 4.0 | 617 |
|
| ||||||
| Subtotal of 1. to 5. (N) | 5,637 | 5,091 | 10,728 | 4,327 | 4,015 | 8,342 |
| Subtotal of 1. to 5. (%) | 76.4 | 82.5 | 88.1 | 92.6 | ||
| 6. Unknown - weakly specified c | 23.6 | 15.6 | 2,701 | 11.9 | 4.7 | 792 |
|
| ||||||
| No CoD assigned/missing | 11.3 | 5.5 | 339 | 8.2 | 2.7 | 119 |
| Medically not recognized community beliefs | 1.2 | 1.3 | 79 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 44 |
| Other | 11.1 | 8.8 | 545 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 43 |
|
| ||||||
| Total of 1. to 6. | 7,375 | 6,174 | 13,355 | 4,913 | 4,337 | 9,090 |
Notes:
Percentages are calculated with the subtotal as the denominator for categories 1–5, and the total as the denominator for category 6.
Sometimes arbitrary decisions were made to classify lay reports as communicable or non-communicable diseases. For example, all liver problems not explicitly referred to as hepatitis (in the community known as ye wof beshita and here classified under “other communicable diseases”) were interpreted as liver cirrhosis. The lay report in Amharic in these cases usually mentioned gubet beshita, which literally means liver disease.
Most unknown or weakly specified lay reports are cases where the cause of death is missing. These often pertain to burials at the Baytewar cemetery. At the outset of the burial surveillance many deaths were also attributed to sickness or accidental sickness (here included in the category “other”). During briefings, cemetery clerks were encouraged to probe for more specific lay reports, and that is probably why these weakly specific lay reports have declined over time.