Death certification reform: A case study on the potential impact on mortality statistics
Key findings
- A case study on medical examiner scrutiny of death certificates found that in 78 per cent cases the underlying cause of death remained unchanged
- The broad underlying cause of death (as defined by International Classification of Diseases chapter) changed after medical examiner scrutiny in 12 per cent of cases
- In the remaining 10 per cent of cases the underlying cause changed but remained in the same International Classification of Disease chapter
- Following scrutiny by the medical examiner, there were 1 per cent more death certificates with an underlying cause of cancer (neoplasm), and an increase of 6 per cent in the proportion that were attributed to diseases of the circulatory system
- The percentage of deaths attributed to a respiratory disease underlying cause decreased by 7 per cent after medical examiner scrutiny
- In general, more conditions were mentioned on the death certificate as a result of scrutiny by medical examiners
