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ONS plans to introduce ICD-10 for mortality Wednesday 1 December 1999, 4.30 for 5.00pm, at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (Basement lecture theatre), 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1 The tenth revision of THE INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES (ICD-10) has been in use in the NHS since 1995, but cause of death is still coded to the ninth revision. ONS plans to implement ICD-10 for mortality data in England and Wales from January 2001 using coding software developed in the USA by the National Center for Health Statistics. This will give a more up to date classification of causes of death, in line with current concepts. However, the change will cause difficulties in interpreting time trends. The main issue in mortality coding is not the codes for individual conditions, but the rules used to select a single underlying cause of death from all the conditions written on the death certificate. These rules are to change markedly in ICD-10, and this will have major effects on the number of deaths attributed to many diseases particularly pneumonias and chronic debilitating diseases such as dementias. To facilitate interpretation of time trends across the change in classification, ONS is planning to bridge code deaths in 2000 to both revisions. This HSUG meeting will provide a chance to discuss the implications of ICD-10 implementation for users of routine mortality data including the methods for the bridge coding study and what outputs users need. Dr Cleo Rooney, Medical Epidemiologist at ONS, will lead the meeting. The lecture theatre is in University College London and people who intend to come should notify us in advance by e-mailing [log in to unmask] or, if not on e-mail, phone 0207 533 5249. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%