On October 1, the latest research findings of Professor Hu Guoqing’s team from Xiangya School of Public Health of Central South University were published as a paper titled “Road traffic death coding quality in the WHO Mortality Database” in the authoritative international public health journal Bulletin of the World Health Organization. The 2018 doctoral student Hua Junjie is the first author of the paper, and Hu Guoqing is the corresponding author.

The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 74/299, proclaimed the period 2021–2030 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal of reducing road traffic fatalities and injuries by at least 50 percent between 2021 and 2030. Accurate and reliable mortality data are the basis for monitoring progress towards targets and predicting future trends. However, the quality of recent road traffic mortality data from various countries in the WHO Mortality Database and its impact on monitoring global road traffic safety action progress and predicting future trends are still unclear.

The research team evaluated the accessibility and coding quality of global road traffic mortality data based on the WHO Mortality Database, and estimated the impact of coding quality on important mortality statistical indicators. The research findings showed that 124 countries and regions reported mortality data to WTO between 2015 and 2020. The data accessibility and coding quality of some regions are poor. The coding quality can seriously affect the results of monitoring road traffic safety action progress towards targets and predicting future trends in some countries and regions.

The research findings suggested that researchers and policy makers should be fully aware of the potential quality issues of the uncorrected road traffic mortality data in the WTO Mortality Database. It is recommended to evaluate the data quality before they are used for relevant research and policy evaluation. If significant changes were to be made to the quality of data from member states, the original data should be corrected first, otherwise the data quality changes or inconsistencies may have potential impact on the research findings. The publication of the findings will be of good reference to promoting the use of the WTO Mortality Database for road traffic safety research.

The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is WTO’s flagship journal focusing on important global public health issues. The abstracts of all research papers published in the journal are translated into five languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. The journal is widely read by United Nations agencies and governments of WTO member states, and has a significant impact on the health policies of countries around the world.

(First Reviewer: Han Yan, Second Reviewer: Deng Haodi, Third Reviewer: Li Yin)

Source: Xiangya School of Public Health  Author: Luo Bin

Original article link: https://news.csu.edu.cn/info/1003/157044.htm