The death rate between January and June 2006 in the greater New Orleans area was almost 50 percent higher than pre-Hurricane Katrina rates. Researchers speculate it is due in part to a compromised public health infrastructure after the Gulf Coast was slammed by Katrina on August 29, 2005.

In the first edition of the AMA journal, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness researchers noticed death announcements in the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper increased dramatically in 2006. This then prompted local health officials to determine whether death-notice surveillance could serve as a valid alternative means to confirm suspicions of excess mortality requiring immediate preventive actions and intervention.

Typically, death rates are derived from death certificates registered at a state's office of vital records. However, following the confusion and devastation - including relocation and a reduced workforce after Hurricane Katrina - the data was not available for a timely review and analysis.

Kevin U. Stephens Sr., M.D., J.D., Director of the New Orleans Health Department, and colleagues used monthly totals from the New Orleans Times-Picayune to tally the frequency and proportion of deaths from January to June 2006 and compared these figures with death notices from 2002 to 2003. They also compared death-notice figures with data from the state Health Statistics Center on the top 10 causes of death in the greater New Orleans area from 2002 to 2003.

In the report the authors state, "The post-Katrina mortality rate for the first six months of 2006 was approximately 91.37 deaths per 100,000 population. Compared to the pre-Katrina population mortality rate of 62.17 deaths per 100,000 population, this represents an average 47 percent increase from the baseline mortality, suggesting a marked increase in indirect (excess) deaths post-disaster."

"This disaster severely compromised the public health infrastructure," they continue. "It is suggested that a destroyed or poorly recovered public health infrastructure, which normally would be able to identify health problems and protect the health of a population, has in fact contributed to excess mortality."

The authors believe their study validates this alternative source of information, and reveals an urgent need for states to adopt electronic reporting systems.