- Changes
in Cause of Death Coding in 1999 - The International Classification
of Diseases (ICD) is a product of the World Health Organization
and is used worldwide. The United States adopted the Tenth
Revision of the ICD (ICD-10) in 1999. The revision not only
effects the codes and names assigned to causes of death, it also
effects the rules for selecting the underlying cause of death
and the grouping of causes for tabulation and selection of leading
causes of death. The changes are such that there is no direct
mapping from one system to the other. Because of this, there appear
to be dramatic increases or decreases in the numbers of deaths
due to certain causes between 1998 and 1999. The user is cautioned
against attempting analyses that involve combining or comparing
data produced under the two different coding systems (see below
for more information on how to make comparisons between the two
systems). For additional information on the Tenth Revision
of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10),
see the National Center for Health Statistics publications Comparability
of Cause of Death Between ICD-9 and ICD-10 Preliminary Estimates:
and Deaths:
Final Data for 1999.
- Comparability
Ratios - To make deaths coded under the ninth revision (ICD-9)
comparable to data coded under ICD-10, the National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS) computed preliminary comparability
ratios for 113 selected causes of death and 130 selected causes
of infant death. When applied to deaths coded in accordance with
ICD-9, the comparability ratios allow for trend analysis by eliminating
differences due solely to the change in ICD. The data used to
prepare these comparability ratios were national level and did
not take into account differences due to age, race, sex, or geography.
More detailed comparability ratios are currently under development
that will reflect the effect of age, race, sex, and geography.
Note that these comparability ratios are only reliable for use
with 1994-1998 data. Use with data from earlier years may produce
erroneous results. Comparability ratios needed for use with the
data in NJSHAD are available in
New Jersey Health Statistics, 1999.
|
