Table 1.

GATHER checklist with description of compliance and location of information in the GBD 2015 mortality and causes of death study

	GATHER checklist item	Description of compliance	Reference
Objectives and funding
1	Define the indicators, populations, and time periods for which estimates were made	Narrative provided in paper and methods appendix describing indicators, definitions, and populations	Main text (Methods—Geographic units, GBD cause list, Time periods) and methods appendix (pp 4–70)
2	List the funding sources for the work	Funding sources listed in paper	Summary (Funding)
Data inputs
For all data inputs from multiple sources that are synthesised as part of the study
3	Describe how the data were identified and how the data were accessed	Narrative description of data seeking methods provided	Main text (Methods) and methods appendix (pp 4–283)
4	Specify the inclusion and exclusion criteria; identify all ad-hoc exclusions	Narrative about inclusion and exclusion criteria by data type provided	Main text (Methods) and methods appendix (pp 4–283)
5	Provide information on all included data sources and their main characteristics; for each data source used, report reference information or contact name or institution, population represented, data collection method, years of data collection, sex and age range, diagnostic criteria or measurement method, and sample size, as relevant	An interactive, online data source tool that provides metadata for data sources by component, geography, cause, risk, or impairment has been developed	Online data citation tools
6	Identify and describe any categories of input data that have potentially important biases (eg, based on characteristics listed in item 5)	Summary of known biases by cause included in methods appendix	Methods appendix (pp 4–283)
For data inputs that contribute to the analysis but were not synthesised as part of the study
7	Describe and give sources for any other data inputs	Included in online data source tool	Online data citation tools
For all data inputs
8	Provide all data inputs in a file format from which data can be efficiently extracted (eg, a spreadsheet as opposed to a PDF), including all relevant metadata listed in item 5; for any data inputs that cannot be shared due to ethical or legal reasons, such as third-party ownership, provide a contact name or the name of the institution that retains the right to the data	Downloads of input data available through online tools, including data visualisation tools and data query tools; input data not available in tools will be made available upon request	Online data visualisation tools, data query tools, and the Global Health Data Exchange
Data analysis
9	Provide a conceptual overview of the data analysis method; a diagram may be helpful	Flow diagrams of the overall methodological processes, as well as cause-specific modelling processes, have been provided	Main text (Methods, Figure 1, Figure 2) and methods appendix (pp 4–287)
10	Provide a detailed description of all steps of the analysis, including mathematical formulae; this description should cover, as relevant, data cleaning, data pre-processing, data adjustments and weighting of data sources, and mathematical or statistical models	Flow diagrams and corresponding methodological write-ups for each cause, as well as the demographics and causes of death databases and modelling processes, have been provided	Main text (Methods, Figure 1, Figure 2) and methods appendix (pp 4–287)
11	Describe how candidate models were evaluated and how the final models were selected	Provided in the methodological write-ups	Methods appendix (pp 71–283)
12	Provide the results of an evaluation of model performance, if done, as well as the results of any relevant sensitivity analysis	Provided in the methodological write-ups	Methods appendix (pp 71–283)
13	Describe methods for calculating uncertainty of the estimates; state which sources of uncertainty were, and were not, accounted for in the uncertainty analysis	Provided in the methodological write-ups	Methods appendix (pp 71–283)
14	State how analytic or statistical source code used to generate estimates can be accessed	Access statement provided	Code is provided in an online repository
Results and discussion
15	Provide published estimates in a file format from which data can be efficiently extracted	GBD 2015 results are available through online data visualisation tools, the Global Health Data Exchange, and the online data query tool	Main text, methods appendix, and online data tools (data visualisation tools, data query tools, and the Global Health Data Exchange)
16	Report a quantitative measure of the uncertainty of the estimates (eg, uncertainty intervals)	Uncertainty intervals are provided with all results	Main text, methods appendix, and online data tools (data visualisation tools, data query tools, and the Global Health Data Exchange)
17	Interpret results in light of existing evidence; if updating a previous set of estimates, describe the reasons for changes in estimates	Discussion of methodological changes between GBD rounds provided in the narrative of the Article and methods appendix	Main text (Methods and Discussion) and methods appendix (pp 4–287)
18	Discuss limitations of the estimates; include a discussion of any modelling assumptions or data limitations that affect interpretation of the estimates	Discussion of limitations provided in the narrative of the main paper, as well as in the methodological write-ups in the methods appendix	Main text (Limitations) and methods appendix (pp 4–283)

GBD 2015=Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study. GATHER=Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting.