posted 10-25-2000 04:14 PM            

"In 1993, the WHO International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) coding guidelines were updated to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Public Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10), and were implemented by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in 1999 (1). For ICD-10, the application of a coding rule was broadened such that when pneumonia is listed by a certifying physician on a death certificate as the underlying cause of death, nosologoists should give preference to coding the cause of death to an alternative condition that might have led to the pnuemonia. Preliminary results from an NCHS comparability study have shown that the ICD-10 coding rule change will result in a substantial decrease in the number of reported pneumonia-related deaths (CDC, unpublished data, 1999).

In response to ICD-10, CDC requested that the 122 cities report pneumonia deaths to the surveillance system if pneumonia is listed anywhere on the death certificate. This may partially account for the observed increase in reported P&I deaths above threshold levels; baseline and threshold levels of P&I mortality are estimated using the previous 5 years' mortality data. CDC continues to evaluate the impact of these changes in reporting criteria on P&I mortality estimates."

posted 10-25-2000 09:09 PM            

"Note: Since the "reporting changes" went into effect only before the 1999-2000 flu season, the 0.8% increase in the Seasonal Baseline and Epidemic Levels should only have been from that point forward. As even a child (but perhaps not a Rooster) could plainly see, this elevation of baseline levels have been extended back through the 1997, 1998, 1999 seasonal data, WHICH IS TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE!!!!"