The Effects of Changes in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases on Suicide Rates in 71 Countries, 1950-1999

In this paper the authors evaluate the effects of World Health Organization (WHO) International Classifications of Diseases (ICD) form revisions on suicide rates for 71 countries. They argue that the changes between ICD-6 through to ICD-9 did not have an overall effect on reported suicide rates, although the transitions between ICD-8 & ICD-9 were associated with country-specific changes in the suicide rate in some countries. They also find that the change from ICD-9 to ICD-10 was associated with an overall change of -.73 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Recommendations for research are made. (39 refs)