Mortality in IEHIAS

The text on this page is taken from an equivalent page of the IEHIAS-project.

In Health Impact Assessment many of the functions relating exposure to health are expressed as a % change in health outcome per unit of exposure. For each health endpoint, it is therefore necessary to obtain appropriate background rates. Background rates may be required for the whole population or may need to be adjusted to calculate the background rates only in those who are not exposed to the pollutant of interest.

For mortality data the choice of background rates should take into account issues including:

1. Are the rates for the appropriate age groups and gender?
2. What time period do the rates apply to?
3. Do the rates refer to an appropriate geographic area?
4. Is the definition used for the health endpoint the same as that used in the exposure-response function?

Mortality data is usually recorded in registers at local and national levels. Thanks to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) the cause of death is clearly known. Most European countries are currently using the ICD-10 standard (the most recent standard) which facilitates comparisons between countries. Depending on the geographical level, mortality data is available per year or by period.