Cause-of-death data series to monitor cause-specific mortality across time and space

Abstract Cause-specific mortality provides useful clues regarding the driving forces behind mortality trends in high income countries. Nevertheless, conventional data sources to measure cause-specific mortality trends are affected by recurring changes in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). They also lack the degree of detail needed to construct consistent time series, at least for the periods before implementation of the 10 th ICD Revision. The Human Cause-of-Death Data series (HCD@HMD) is an extension of the Human Mortality Database designed to provide cause-specific mortality time series with causes of death classified according to consistent lists of causes of death, taking changes to the ICD into account. The HCD@HMD provides high-quality detailed continuous data series for three standard lists of cause-of-death categories (short, intermediate, and long) coded to the 10 th ICD Revision, harmonized over time and across populations. The reconstructed series are currently available for 18 countries. All HCD@HMD data series are updated periodically and include the most recent data available. The data follow the FAIR principles and they are publicly available.