International Collaborative Effort (ICE) On Birth Weight, Plurality, Perinatal, And Infant Mortality

Abstract

Underlying causes of infant death, as coded in the ninth revision of the International Classification of Diseases, have been grouped into a system of seven functional categories plus one additional group of "other and unclassifiable" diagnoses. The groups comprise congenital anomalies, asphyxia related conditions, immaturity related conditions, infections, sudden death, deaths due to external causes, and other specific conditions. The groups were constructed by using a frequency distribution of underlying cause of death in 200,000 infant deaths in 1980-84 in the U.S.A. When analysed according to age at death and according to birth weight, the distribution of the functional groups had patterns which corresponded to what might be expected clinically. Each functional group has common features which require intervention at a specific time for prevention and treatment. We propose that it is used as a tool in epidemiological surveillance and to guide health authorities in priorities for disease control. International comparisons of time trends will be undertaken.

Classificações de evitabilidade dos óbitos infantis: diferentes métodos, diferentes repercussões?

“…We began by selecting only the classification methods for causes of infant death that used the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which included the following methods: Taucher 4 , Wigglesworth 5 , ICE 11 , SEADE Foundation 12 , and Brazilian List of Avoidable Causes of Death 13 .…”

“…The causes of death were combined in eight groups: congenital; asphyxia; immaturity; infection; sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); external causes; specific conditions; and other causes 11 .…”

“…Following analysis of each method, we elaborated an equivalence table for the codes of cause of death for the classifications, since there are classifications that used the ICD-9, such as those by Taucher 4 and ICE 11 , while others were based on the ICD-10 to classify the causes of deaths, such as the SEADE Foundation 12 and the Brazilian List of Avoidable Causes of Death 19 .…”

“…Based on the Wigglesworth classification 5 , in 1989 the International Collaborative Effort on Infant Mortality (ICE) 11 proposed a similar methodology in the USA to facilitate comparison between countries. They added causes of sudden death, external causes, and infection to the classification 11 .…”

“…They added causes of sudden death, external causes, and infection to the classification 11 . In Brazil, the first method for classification of infant deaths was developed by Luis Patrício Ortiz, better known as the List of the São Paulo State Foundation System for Data Analysis (SEADE) 12 .…”