Reconstruction possibilities of long-term time series of causes of death

Statistics Netherlands publishes cause-of-death statistics since 1901. By reclassifications (International Classification of Diseases, now version ICD-10) and by changes in coding rules several method breaks in these statistics have arisen. In the past coding rules, deviating from ICD classifications, have not been documented consistently. The aim of this study is to examine cause-of-death series from 1950 to 2010 for breaks and for possibilities to mend these.