MORTUCODLD is a recode created by NCHS to classify underlying cause of death across 113 categories.

HEALTH SURVEYS
1

Hi,

The Variable Text for MORTUCODLD (Leading underlying cause of death) in NHIS says: “MORTUCODLD is a recode created by NCHS to classify underlying cause of death across 113 categories.” MORTUCODLD provides 9 causes of death. I went to the NCHS site to find out how the 113 categories were combined to create the 9 categories, but had no success. In need to know, for example, which specific causese are included in the first leading cause “Disease of heart”? Would someone be able to help me?

Warm regards,

Mo

2

It looks like this data dictionary provides a crosswalk between the MORTUCODLD codes and the 113 detailed code options (see appendix 3 and appendix 4) for years that follow the ICD-10 codes (1999 forward). I was unable to locate a similar codebook from 1998 or earlier, but this report contains a great overview of each category as well as a crosswalk between ICD-10 and IDD-09 codes.

I hope this helps.