Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey.
India has long been thought to have more snakebites than any other country. However, inadequate hospital-based reporting has resulted in estimates of total annual snakebite mortality ranging widely from about 1,300 to 50,000. We calculated direct estimates of snakebite mortality from a national mort...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9c554b91d5d843d3b371f355392d87b8 2023-05-15T15:11:49+02:00 Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. Bijayeeni Mohapatra David A Warrell Wilson Suraweera Prakash Bhatia Neeraj Dhingra Raju M Jotkar Peter S Rodriguez Kaushik Mishra Romulus Whitaker Prabhat Jha Million Death Study Collaborators 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001018 https://doaj.org/article/9c554b91d5d843d3b371f355392d87b8 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3075236?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001018 https://doaj.org/article/9c554b91d5d843d3b371f355392d87b8 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e1018 (2011) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2011 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001018 2022-12-31T01:32:59Z India has long been thought to have more snakebites than any other country. However, inadequate hospital-based reporting has resulted in estimates of total annual snakebite mortality ranging widely from about 1,300 to 50,000. We calculated direct estimates of snakebite mortality from a national mortality survey.We conducted a nationally representative study of 123,000 deaths from 6,671 randomly selected areas in 2001-03. Full-time, non-medical field workers interviewed living respondents about all deaths. The underlying causes were independently coded by two of 130 trained physicians. Discrepancies were resolved by anonymous reconciliation or, failing that, by adjudication. A total of 562 deaths (0.47% of total deaths) were assigned to snakebites. Snakebite deaths occurred mostly in rural areas (97%), were more common in males (59%) than females (41%), and peaked at ages 15-29 years (25%) and during the monsoon months of June to September. This proportion represents about 45,900 annual snakebite deaths nationally (99% CI 40,900 to 50,900) or an annual age-standardised rate of 4.1/100,000 (99% CI 3.6-4.5), with higher rates in rural areas (5.4/100,000; 99% CI 4.8-6.0), and with the highest state rate in Andhra Pradesh (6.2). Annual snakebite deaths were greatest in the states of Uttar Pradesh (8,700), Andhra Pradesh (5,200), and Bihar (4,500).Snakebite remains an underestimated cause of accidental death in modern India. Because a large proportion of global totals of snakebites arise from India, global snakebite totals might also be underestimated. Community education, appropriate training of medical staff and better distribution of antivenom, especially to the 13 states with the highest prevalence, could reduce snakebite deaths in India. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 5 4 e1018 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Bijayeeni Mohapatra David A Warrell Wilson Suraweera Prakash Bhatia Neeraj Dhingra Raju M Jotkar Peter S Rodriguez Kaushik Mishra Romulus Whitaker Prabhat Jha Million Death Study Collaborators Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
India has long been thought to have more snakebites than any other country. However, inadequate hospital-based reporting has resulted in estimates of total annual snakebite mortality ranging widely from about 1,300 to 50,000. We calculated direct estimates of snakebite mortality from a national mortality survey.We conducted a nationally representative study of 123,000 deaths from 6,671 randomly selected areas in 2001-03. Full-time, non-medical field workers interviewed living respondents about all deaths. The underlying causes were independently coded by two of 130 trained physicians. Discrepancies were resolved by anonymous reconciliation or, failing that, by adjudication. A total of 562 deaths (0.47% of total deaths) were assigned to snakebites. Snakebite deaths occurred mostly in rural areas (97%), were more common in males (59%) than females (41%), and peaked at ages 15-29 years (25%) and during the monsoon months of June to September. This proportion represents about 45,900 annual snakebite deaths nationally (99% CI 40,900 to 50,900) or an annual age-standardised rate of 4.1/100,000 (99% CI 3.6-4.5), with higher rates in rural areas (5.4/100,000; 99% CI 4.8-6.0), and with the highest state rate in Andhra Pradesh (6.2). Annual snakebite deaths were greatest in the states of Uttar Pradesh (8,700), Andhra Pradesh (5,200), and Bihar (4,500).Snakebite remains an underestimated cause of accidental death in modern India. Because a large proportion of global totals of snakebites arise from India, global snakebite totals might also be underestimated. Community education, appropriate training of medical staff and better distribution of antivenom, especially to the 13 states with the highest prevalence, could reduce snakebite deaths in India. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bijayeeni Mohapatra David A Warrell Wilson Suraweera Prakash Bhatia Neeraj Dhingra Raju M Jotkar Peter S Rodriguez Kaushik Mishra Romulus Whitaker Prabhat Jha Million Death Study Collaborators |
author_facet |
Bijayeeni Mohapatra David A Warrell Wilson Suraweera Prakash Bhatia Neeraj Dhingra Raju M Jotkar Peter S Rodriguez Kaushik Mishra Romulus Whitaker Prabhat Jha Million Death Study Collaborators |
author_sort |
Bijayeeni Mohapatra |
title |
Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
title_short |
Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
title_full |
Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
title_fullStr |
Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snakebite mortality in India: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
title_sort |
snakebite mortality in india: a nationally representative mortality survey. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001018 https://doaj.org/article/9c554b91d5d843d3b371f355392d87b8 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 5, Iss 4, p e1018 (2011) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3075236?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001018 https://doaj.org/article/9c554b91d5d843d3b371f355392d87b8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001018 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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5 |
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4 |
container_start_page |
e1018 |
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1766342606222000128 |