CAUSES OF DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 20059, 27 December 1928, Page 1

CAUSES OF DEATH

UNIFORM CLASSIFICATION INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Everything is relative; we gauge the value or importance of anything in its comparison with or relation to something else. The conditions of health ol the people are obtained Irom a study of the vital statistics which show the causes of deaths, etc., but. this index can only bo appraised at its true value by comparing it with the similar index for other countries. Only by doing so can we know whether the health of onr people is good, bail, or indifferent. By comparing the death rates of all conntries we ascertain what is a fair nor-mal-.standard, and can then judge how our own stands in relation thereto. This being so. wo at once realise how important it if. that the statistical practice in sotting out the figures for causes of death, the groupings, etc., should be on uniform lines;-otherwise onr index of comparison is lust. For the purpose of obtaining and maintaining tiiis uniformity an international nomenclature of causes of 'death has been compiled for use by all countries. Originally .drawn up by Dr Bcrtillon, it has been revised from” time to time at a conference of statisticians of all countries every ten vears, called by the international Institute of 'Statistics, and usually held at Paris. The vast and rapid strides which medical knowledge has made in regard to diseases and their treatment has called for considerable revision and expansion of the international list of causes and its groupings each decade. As might be expected, the English-speaking countries—United States of America and the British Empire—have led in the actual extended use of the list, and now supply considerably more detailed statistics than the Continental countries. SOME divergences; Although the same list is in general use there are still some divergences arising; new points keep coming up for determination which may not be treated on exactly the same'lines in all countries. Only "in recent years after exhaustive treatment of infant mortality has attention been directed to still” births. AH eountrics have not adopted the same definitions of still births, so that the comparability of the statistics is greatly if New Zealand used the same definition as France, Holland, or Belgium our infant mortality rate for the last quinquennium, states. Mr Malcolm Fraser (Government Statistician), 1922-27, would be 28.99 instead of 40.50. Another revision of the international list of causes is now due t A committee of the League of Nations and of the International institute of Statistics lias been at work for the past two years gahering and co-ordinating the suggestions and proposals of Hie various countries lor the revision of the list. The French Government has issued invitations for a conference of statisticians to discuss and agree on the revisions to be adopted for the next, ciceennium. This gathering promises to be-one of the most important yet held. The conference will be held at Paris in a lew uionlhs..