Mortality from infectious diseases in Israel, 1979-1992, based on revised ICD-9 codes: Implications for international comparisons

Infectious diseases remain the world's leading cause of death. (1,2) Tradit ionally, mortality rates from infectious diseases are estimated on the basi s of international Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 001 through 139.(3) However, Pinner et al.(4) demonstrated that these code s include only 67% of the 1131 codes that could be categorized as infectiou s diseases or consequences of infections. For example, otitis media (ICD-9 code 382.0) is classified as a disease of the ear rather than as an infecti ous disease. A better estimate of the impact of infectious diseases can be obtained with a revised scheme that includes all codes that could represent infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate trends in infec tious disease mortality rates in Israel between 1979 and 1992, using ICD-9 codes 001 through 139 and the revised set of codes.