mortality_cause_codes
Cause-of-death code dictionary for the CDC WONDER / NCHS mortality pipeline. One row per cause_code, mapping each cause label to its ICD-10 code set and cause_type (all_cause / disease / external / composite). Includes the JEC deaths-of-despair composite. Several causes intentionally overlap (e.g. firearm spans suicide and homicide); the notes column flags which pairs must never be summed. Used as the cause spine for the health_mortality_* tables.
tier aTier A: NCHS leading-cause definitions.
overview
overview
20 cause codes — NCHS leading/external causes + JEC despair composite.
current vintage — 2024
provenance
source & licensing
authority
U.S. National Center for Health Statistics
dataset
NCHS ICD-10 cause groupings + JEC despair composite
source url
license
Public domain (U.S. Federal Government work)
citation
U.S. NCHS, ICD-10 cause-of-death groupings; JEC deaths-of-despair composite.
schema
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| cause_codekey | string | Machine-readable key for the cause of death (e.g. 'heart_disease', 'drug_overdose', 'deaths_of_despair'). Primary key and join spine for the health_mortality_* tables.Part of primary key. |
| cause_label | string | Human-readable cause name using NCHS wording (e.g. 'Diseases of heart'). |
| cause_type | string | Grouping category for the cause: 'all_cause' (total mortality, no cause filter), 'disease' (underlying-cause disease category), 'external' (injury/external cause), or 'composite' (analyst-defined bundle such as the JEC deaths-of-despair set). |
| icd10_codes | string | Comma-separated ICD-10 underlying-cause-of-death code ranges that define this cause. Empty for the all_cause row, which applies no underlying-cause-of-death filter. |
| notes | string | Caveats for correct use: overlap warnings flagging which causes must never be summed (e.g. firearm spans both suicide and homicide), coverage limits, and derivation notes for composite causes. |
relationships
joins
primary key
cause_code
common joins
not provided
usage
how to use this table
method
Hand-curated ICD-10 code sets per NCHS; composite deduped.
do not use for
Summing overlapping causes (see notes column — firearm/suicide/homicide/despair overlap).
last updated · Jul 7, 2026