Reconstruction of Continues Time Series by Causes of Death in Belarus

Pavel Grigoriev, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

The analysis of causes of death is essential in establishing causal links between mortality and its determinants. However, it is complicated by the periodical changes made in the ICD revisions. Since 1965, the classification of causes of death in Belarus has been revised and modified four times: three times during the Soviet period (in 1970, 1981, and 1988) and once in 2002, when a specific abridged version of the ICD-10 was implemented. To overcome the discontinuities in the statistical series caused to the changes in cause-of-death classifications, it is necessary to apply a special reconstruction method. As the result, it is expected to obtain the coherent cause-specific mortality trends since 1965 onwards in terms of the last classification currently used in Belarus. The acquired data will serve as the basis for the in-depth mortality research not only in Belarus but also for comparative analyses with other European countries.