TECHNICAL NOTE 3 2007 REVISIONS


INTRODUCTION

1 All coroner certified deaths registered after 1 January 2007 are now subject to the Causes of Death (COD) revisions process. See Technical Note 2: Causes of Death - Revisions Process. Revisions were first applied to the 2007 reference year. Prior to the implementation of the revisions process, cause of death statistics were not revised after publication. This was the case even if a coronial enquiry was later finalised.

2 The 2007 revisions process was limited to all cases which moved from open to closed during the 12 months following preliminary coding. Processing for preliminary and revised data for the future will investigate all cases, open and closed Technical Note 1: 2008 COD Collection - Process Improvements.

3 The 2007 revisions process only impacted on coroner certified deaths. 2007 (revised) data has been published in this release on a reference year basis. In 2011, after a second application of the COD revisions process, 2007 (final) data will be released in the 2009 Causes of Death publication.


RESULTS OF THE 2007 REVISIONS PROCESS

4 During the 2007 revisions period, 1,614 coronial cases moved from open to closed, and 1,172 coroner certified records were recoded to a potentially more specific underlying cause of death.

5 Table 1 shows the impact of the revisions on the 2007 coroner certified data at ICD-10 chapter level. Overall, the 2007 revisions process resulted in 476 records changing from Ill-defined causes (R00-R99). This was a 38% reduction in causes of death recorded in the Ill-defined causes (R00-R99) category.

6 Of the records that moved from Ill-defined (R00-R99) to more specific codes, 192 moved to Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-I99), 43 to Intentional self-harm [Suicide] (X60-X84, Y87.0) and 76 to Other external causes of accidental injury (W00-X59). Of the 273 records which moved from Undetermined intent (Y10-Y34, Y87.2), 123 moved to Suicide (X60-X84, X87.0) and 85 to Transport accidents (V01-V99, Y85).

7 All chapters with the exception of Diseases of the eye and adnexa (H00-H59) and Diseases of the ear and mastoid process (H60-H95), (and Ill defined causes (R00-R99)) increased in number as a result of COD Revisions.

TABLE 1 - CORONER CERTIFIED DEATHS, by ICD-10 chapter - 2007 Preliminary and revised(a)(b): Number and Percentage change
	Preliminary (Before revision)	Revised (After revision)	Change (Preliminary to Revised)	Change (Preliminary to Revised)
Cause of death and ICD Code	no	no	no	%
Infectious Diseases (A00-B99)	99	103	4	4.0
Cancer (C00-D48)	635	653	18	2.8
Blood and Immunity Disorders (D50-D89)	28	30	2	7.1
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E90)	307	319	12	3.9
Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-F99)	236	237	1	0.4
Diseases of the nervous system (G00-G99)	281	288	7	2.5
Diseases of the eye and adnexa and Diseases of the ear and mastoid process (H00-H95)	4	2	-2	-50.0
Diseases of the heart and blood vessels (I00-I99)	6 053	6 248	195	3.2
Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)	637	656	19	3.0
Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K93)	589	619	30	5.1
Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99)	13	14	1	7.7
Diseases of the muscles, bones and tendons (M00-M99)	58	59	1	1.7
Diseases of the kidney, urinary system and genitals (N00-N99)	89	92	3	3.4
Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (O00-O99)	5	6	1	20.0
Conditions originating in the perinatal period (P00-P96)	37	39	2	5.4
Congenital and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99)	73	81	8	11.0
Ill defined causes (R00-R99)	1 264	788	-476	-37.7
External causes (V01-Y98)	6 444	6 617	173	2.7
All Causes	16 851	16 851	-	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information.
(b) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal to the sum of their components.

8 Table 2 shows the impact of the COD revisions process on the 2007 data for selected causes. The largest movements were:

• the number of records coded to Suicides (X60-X84, Y87.0) increased by 173
• the number of records coded to Transport accidents (V01-V99, Y85) increased by 116
• the number of records coded to Accidental poisonings (X40-X49) increased by 70
• the number of records coded to Falls (W00-W19) increased by 33
• the number of records coded to Assaults (X85-Y09, Y87.1) increased by 30.

9 The greatest movement among External cause codes due to the revisions process was the increase in the number of deaths coded to Suicide from 1,881 (2007 preliminary) to 2,054 (2007 revised), an increase of 173 deaths (9.2%).

TABLE 2: CORONDER CERTIFIED DEATHS, Selected causes - 2007 Preliminary and revised(a)(b): Number and Percentage change
	Preliminary (Before revision)	Revised (After revision)	Change (Preliminary to Revised)	Change (Preliminary to Revised)
Cause of death and ICD Code	no	no	no	%
Sudden infant death syndrome (R95)	71	83	12	16.9
Other ill-defined and unspecified causes of mortality (R99)	1 160	675	-485	-41.8
Transport accidents (V01-V99, Y85)	1 342	1 458	116	8.6
Falls (W00-W19)	695	728	33	4.7
Accidental drowning and submersion (W65-W74)	183	186	3	1.6
Exposure to smoke, fire and flames (X00-X09)	57	63	6	10.5
Accidental poisoning by and exposure to noxious substances (X40-X49)	534	604	70	13.1
Intentional self-harm (X60-X84, Y87.0)(b)	1 881	2 054	173	9.2
Assault (X85-Y09, Y87.1)	164	194	30	18.3
Event of Undetermined intent (Y10-Y34, Y87.2)	1 092	830	-262	-24.0
Other external causes of mortality (X60-Y36)	3 136	3 079	-57	-1.8
All Causes	16 851	16 851	-	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information.
(b) Care needs to be taken in interpreting figures relating to suicide due to limitations of data, see Explanatory Notes 72-75.

10 Table 3 shows the movement between selected causes from 2007 (preliminary) underlying cause of death to 2007 (revised) underlying cause of death. The largest movements were between Other ill-defined and unspecified causes of mortality (R99), Diseases of the circulatory system (I00-I99); and Undetermined intent (Y10-Y34, Y87.2) and Suicide (X60-X84, Y87.0). Table 3 also highlights the movements in codes within chapters for these selected causes.

Table 3: Coroner cases, Preliminary and revised underlying cause of death - Selected causes - 2007 (a)(b)
	Preliminary 2007 ICD-10 Code(c)
Revised 2007 ICD-10 code	Other ill-defined and unspecified causes of mortality (R99)	Transport accidents (V01-V99, Y85)	Other external causes of accidental injury (W00-X59)	Suicide (X60-X84,Y87.0)	Assault (X85-Y09,Y87.1)	Undetermined intent (Y10-Y34, Y87.2)	Total
Diseases of the circulatory sytem (I00-I99)	192	2	4	-	-	-	272
Ill defined causes (R00-R98, excludes R99)	12	-	-	-	-	-	13
Transport accidents (V01-V99, Y85)	19	70	18	-	-	85	202
Other external causes of accidental injury (W00-X59)	76	3	42	-	-	49	192
Suicide (X60-X84, Y87.0)(d)	43	1	5	75	-	123	248
Assault (X85-Y09, Y87.1)	4	11	2	-	10	13	39
Undetermined intent (Y10-Y34, Y87.2)	7	3	4	-	-	7	18
Total(c)	480	87	74	75	10	280	1 172
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information
(b) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal to the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.
(c) Includes all causes of death.
(d) Care needs to be taken in interpreting figures relating to suicide due to limitations of data, see Explanatory Notes 72-75.

IMPACT OF THE REVISIONS PROCESS ON EXTERNAL CAUSES OF DEATH DATA

11 The revisions process applied to 2007 (preliminary) data has increased the number of deaths coded to Suicide by 173. See tables 2, 3 and 5 in this Technical Note for further information relating to the impact of the revisions process on Suicide deaths.

12 Table 4 presents data on 2007 open coroner cases (preliminary and revised) with an external cause of death by mechanism of death. This is presented to provide information on the impact of the revisions process on these data.

Table 4 - Open coroner cases, External causes of death by mechanism - 2007 Preliminary and Revised, (a)(b): State and territory of registration(c)
	Hanging	Falls	Poisoning	Drowning	Transport Accidents	Firearms	Sharp Objects	Other and Unspecified	Total
Preliminary 2007
NSW	88	27	92	41	54	22	6	185	515
Vic	60	40	74	11	68	14	15	168	450
Qld	179	19	88	31	143	47	21	262	790
SA	21	10	26	4	29	9	5	26	130
WA	25	8	29	7	94	3	5	31	202
Tas	3	3	8	-	9	2	1	9	35
NT	7	4	4	1	29	3	3	11	62
ACT	1	1	1	1	1	-	1	4	10
Aust	384	112	322	96	427	100	57	696	2 194
Revised 2007
NSW	100	30	100	40	73	25	5	184	557
Vic	52	35	65	7	64	13	15	147	398
Qld	40	10	32	9	65	21	3	44	224
SA	10	5	16	2	15	5	1	19	73
WA	21	3	18	4	46	3	5	28	128
Tas	2	-	7	-	7	3	2	4	25
NT	3	2	1	4	18	2	1	6	37
ACT	1	4	1	3	-	-	3	2	10
Aust	228	87	244	64	288	71	34	436	1 452
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information
(b) For 2007 preliminary data, some data have moved between originally published mechanism categories due to a more specific code allocation in the processing of 2008 data.
(c) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal to the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.

13 Table 5 presents open coroner cases (preliminary and revised) with an external cause of death by intent ie. accidental, intentional self-harm (Suicide), assault (homicide) or undetermined.

Table 5 - Open coroner deaths, External causes by intent(a)(b) - 2007 Preliminary and Revised, State and territory of registration  (c)
	Accident	Suicide(d)	Assault	Undetermined	Other	Total
Preliminary 2007
NSW	195	55	8	252	5	515
Vic	130	85	24	205	6	450
Qld	227	161	19	377	6	790
SA	61	39	13	16	3	130
WA	136	29	16	20	3	202
Tas	23	5	2	4	2	35
NT	42	10	6	2	-	62
ACT	7	-	3	4	-	10
Aust	821	384	91	878	20	2 194
Revised 2007
NSW	223	73	9	246	6	557
Vic	116	76	23	179	4	398
Qld	93	77	9	44	1	224
SA	31	20	11	10	1	73
WA	75	20	16	16	1	128
Tas	16	4	3	3	1	25
NT	30	6	2	-	1	37
ACT	7	-	3	4	4	10
Aust	591	276	73	498	14	1 452
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information.
(b) For 2007 preliminary data, some data have moved between originally published intent categories due to a more specific code allocation in the processing of 2008 data.
(c) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal to the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.
(d) Care needs to be taken in interpreting figures relating to Suicide due to limitations of data, see Explanatory Notes 72-75.

OPEN AND CLOSED CASES

14 Table 6 shows the number of 2007 open and closed coroner certified records on the ABS processing system before and after the application of the 2007 revisions process. The number of open coronial cases reduced from 5,128 to 3,017 over the 12 month period. This means a total of 1,614 cases moved from open to closed between January 2009 and January 2010. This is larger than the overall number of cases which were revised through the ABS revision process (1,172), due to the underlying cause of death not being changed by coroners for some open cases which moved to a status of closed.

15 The number of closed cases for the New South Wales jurisdiction has decreased. This is due to a difference in the methodology used for generating these figures. For 2007 preliminary data, the numbers were obtained from NCIS directly as the ABS did not record case status on the Mortality system at that stage. The figures for 2007 revised data were derived from ABS Mortality system. Although these numbers should match, the difference can be explained by:

• the wrong coroner case originally being attributed to a record
• not being able to match to NCIS due to errors in spelling of names or date of birth or death
• incorrect calculation of closed vs open cases in 2007 preliminary due to different methodology.

Table 6: Coroner case status, 2007 Preliminary and revised(a) - State and territory of registration(b)
	2007 Preliminary (before revision)				2007 Revised (after revision)
	Open	Closed	Total	Closed cases as % of total	Open	Closed	Other(c)	Total	Closed cases as % of total
	no.	no.	no.	%	no.	no.	no.	no.	%
NSW	1 420	3 595	5 015	72	1 410	3 555	50	5 015	71
VIC	783	3 388	4 171	81	666	3 487	18	4 171	84
QLD	2 150	825	2 975	28	502	2 068	405	2 975	70
SA	274	1 593	1 867	85	159	1 703	5	1 867	91
WA	318	1 416	1 734	82	183	1 548	4	1 734	89
TAS	63	384	447	86	30	404	13	447	90
NT	85	228	313	73	47	265	1	313	85
ACT	35	294	329	89	20	307	2	329	93
Australia	5 128	11 723	16 851	70	3 017	13 337	497	16 851	79
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information
(b) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal to the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.
(c) 'Other' includes cases with status of 'blank', 'not stated' and 'not applicable'

16 Table 7 shows the remaining number of open coroner certified cases for 2007 by type of cause, after the application of the revision process. These remaining 3,017 open cases will be subject to a second round of COD revisions as part of the 2009 causes of death processing.

Table 7: Remaining open cases, Type of cause - State and territory of registration: 2007 Revised(a)(b)
	Natural Causes(c)	External Causes(d)	Unknown Causes(e)	Total
NSW	694	557	159	1 410
VIC	264	398	4	666
QLD	189	224	89	502
SA	57	73	29	159
WA	39	128	16	183
TAS	5	25	-	30
NT	7	37	3	47
ACT	8	10	2	20
Australia	1 263	1 452	302	3 017
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) 2007 data are revised and subject to a further revisions process. See Technical Note 3: 2007 Revisions for further information
(b) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal to the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.
(c) Natural Causes - deaths due to diseases (for example diabetes, cancer, heart disease etc). Natural causes are predominantly certified by doctors. (A00-Q99, R00-98)
(d) External causes - deaths due to causes external to the body (for example suicide, transport accidents, falls, poisoning etc). External causes are certified by coroners. (V01-V99).
(e) Unknown Causes - deaths where it is unable to be determined whether the cause was natural or external. Predominantly these deaths are certified by coroners. (R99)