Multiple causes of death analysis: a comparison between France and Italy

Antonio Salvatore, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Aline Desesquelles, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Luisa Frova, Instituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Marilena Pappagallo, Instituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Monica Pace, Instituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Viviana Egidi, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

Multiple cause of death analysis is particularly relevant to study mortality at older ages. We use this approach to compare the mortality profile of Italy and France in 2003. The information on the death certificate has been coded according to ICD10 and classified into 67 groups. The mean number of causes by certificate is lower in France than in Italy. The ratio between the frequency of deaths with a specific disease as underlying cause and the frequency of deaths with that disease as underlying or associated cause, is generally higher in France. The same holds true for the percentage of certificates with ill-defined causes or mechanisms of death as underlying cause. Ill-defined causes are more frequently reported as associated causes in Italy. Excluding ill-defined causes from the analysis, the mean number of causes remains higher in Italy while clearer differences in the mortality profile of the two countries emerge.