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List of Causes Used in Leading Causes of Death and Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) Reports

The following is a list of terms describing the causes of death that are used in producing the Leading Causes of Death Reports as well as the Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) Reports of WISQARS. Because space is limited in the reports, some terms had to be shortened. But in doing so, some of the meaning may have been lost. This table shows the term used in the WISQARS report, its complete term, and the associated ICD-9 codes used to define it.

This table is in two parts: the following is for all ages, another table exists for causes related specifically to infants (those less than 1 year old).

Note: Not all causes will appear on all reports. Some causes will not have enough deaths to be included in some reports.

All Ages

The following two paragraphs from Deaths: Final Data for 1998 Volume 48, Number 11 July 24, 2000 offer further clarification:

* Codes for HIV infection
Beginning with data for 1987, NCHS introduced categories *042-*044 for classifying and coding Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The asterisks before the category numbers indicate that they are not part of the Ninth Revision, International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). Deaths classified to HIV infection are included, but not shown separately, in the category ”All other infectious and parasitic diseases” in the List of 72 Selected Causes of Death and in the category ”Remainder of infectious and parasitic diseases” in the List of 61 Selected Causes of Infant Deaths. Before 1987 deaths involving HIV infection were classified to ”Deficiency of cell-mediated immunity” (ICD-9 No. 279.1), contained in the category ”All other diseases”;to”Pneumocystosis” (ICD-9 No. 136.3), contained in the category ”All other infectious and parasitic diseases”;to”Malignant neoplasms, including neoplasms of lymphatic and hematopoietic tissues”; and to a number of other causes. As a consequence, cause-of-death data for HIV infection beginning with 1987 are not strictly comparable with data for previous years.

Alzheimer’s disease deaths
Beginning with data year 1979, WHO introduced a separate category for Alzheimer’s disease in the ICD-9 (331.0). Alzheimer’s mortality is believed to be underreported. Research shows that a substantial number of death certificates for persons diagnosed with dementia do not mention the condition. Underreporting is believed to be due to failure to report a condition considered to contribute to death, judgment that this condition did not contribute to death, or failure to diagnose the condition (35).
Infants Less than 1 Year Old