Death Summary Tables summarize causes of death in individual CEDR data file sets according to groupings of International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes that pertain to diseases of interest to the CEDR community. These tables are intended to help researchers quickly determine if a particular data file set is of interest. Many of CEDR's data file sets pertain to cohort mortality studies, and CEDR staff produces these Death Summary Tables after data providers have submitted analytic data file sets.
An epidemiologic mortality study examines the rates of deaths due to various causes among a particular population, or cohort. In such studies, an individual's cause of death, such as heart disease or cancer, is coded by a qualified nosologist and entered into the data file by the researcher. CEDR summarizes the underlying causes of death creating a table that shows the number of deaths occurring in various groupings derived from the ICD classification used for the study. These Death Summary Tables, are part of CEDR's Data File Set level documentation and are accessible via their CEDR's Data File Set overview. The tables are presented as PDF files and can be viewed and printed using the Adobe Acrobat reader.Deaths are coded according to one or several revisions of the ICD as indicated by the researcher. The following table shows year ranges that each revision came into effect. However, a nosologist coding a specific death might deviate from these dates.
|
5th Revision |
6th Revision |
7th Revision |
8th Revision |
9th Revision |
10th Revision |
|
1938-1947 |
1948-1954 |
1955-1964 |
1965-1974 |
1975-1988 |
1989- |
Some studies provided by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) use the year ranges provided by the Life Table Analysis System (PC LTAS) and might differ from above.
Methodology for Producing Death Summary Tables
Variables Used. The variables found in data files that CEDR uses to create the tables are those that reflect gender, vital status, and underlying cause of death.
CEDR Death Summary Tables are also based upon ICD revision. ICD revision values may be provided to CEDR in three different ways:
1. For some data file sets, only one ICD revision is used by the data provider and is specified in the structure documentation.
2. For others, each ICD code value is accompanied by a corresponding ICD revision value as a separate variable.
3. In recent data files provided by NIOSH, no ICD revision is indicated either in the documentation or as a variable. Instead the data provider states that "the ICD code assigned was based on the ICD revision in effect at date of death." In these cases CEDR Death Summary Tables have assumed ICD revision values based on the date ranges shown above.
What are Groupings? ICD codes relating to a specific disease type are grouped. For example, the Grouping labeled "All benign neoplasms" includes deaths given ICD codes in the range 210-228.9 in ICD 8, and given ICD codes in the range 210-229.9 in ICD 9.
Each death is assigned to a Grouping based on the variables listed above. Each gender is tallied separately. Once all deaths are assigned to a Grouping, the sum for each Grouping is calculated for each gender.
ICD Code ranges used in Death Summary Tables. The following links show the underlying cause of death code ranges used by CEDR according to the different ICD revisions.
Death Summary Tables are not produced for all CEDR Data File Sets.
Death Summary Tables are intended for general understanding of the distribution of causes of death among individuals in the study files. those CEDR data file sets considered to consist of "working" data file sets. They are produced only for analytic data file sets associated with a specific epidemiological study.
Death Summary Tables are not created when the data file set does not include ICD codes.Death Summary Tables are not created for those studies that do not investigate mortality (e.g. morbidity studies)
Death Summary Tables are intended for general understanding of the distribution of causes of death among individuals in the study files. They are not necessarily uniform from one study to another. They might not be constructed according to the same groupings of ICD codes groups and should not be used comparatively.
The number of deaths shown in the Tables should reflect the number of known deaths with ICD codes appearing in the data files provided by CEDR. This figure may differ from:
These variations may occur for numerous reasons, e.g. researchers sometimes retain individuals in their analytic files whose data are not used or discussed in their final analyses or published papers.
The publication of a new ICD revision by the WHO does not terminate use of the former revision. A researcher might use a different revision than the one in effect at the time of death or at the time of the analysis.
In the ORISE working data, ICD codes in the 800-999 range are "E" codes, i.e., SUPPLEMENTARY CLASSIFICATION OF EXTERNAL CAUSES OF INJURY AND POISONING (E800-E999).