Results and observations from the reconstruction of continuous time series of mortality by cause of death

Though many countries have been collecting cause-of-death information from death certificates for more than a century, these valuable data sources remain underexplored. This is certainly due in part to the frequent revisions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which have caused breaks in data continuity. This paper describes the methodological background and the results of the transition between the eighth and the ninth revision of ICD for the territory of former West Germany. Using practical examples, we examine the difficulties encountered and discuss the solutions applied.causes of death, mortality, West Germany