Transitioning health data systems from International Classification of Diseases 10 to Classification 11 in Lebanon

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Mortality Statistics

Background:

• The transition from the International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) to ICD-11 aims to enhance national health data accuracy.
• Challenges exist in the implementation and outcome of this transition, particularly in mortality data reporting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To document Lebanon's experience in transitioning its mortality data coding from ICD-10 to ICD-11.
• To compare cause of death reporting between ICD-10 and ICD-11 in the Lebanese context.

Main Methods:

• Hospital mortality data from Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health for 2022 were collected.
• Data were analyzed using both ICD-10 and ICD-11 classifications.
• The Analysing Mortality and Causes of Death 3 (ANACoD3) tool was used to map and compare causes of death.

Main Results:

• Discrepancies between ICD-10 and ICD-11 were most pronounced in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
• While NCDs were leading causes in both systems, their proportion differed (ICD-10: 64.0% vs. ICD-11: 41.29%).
• Leading causes of death and child deaths showed similar identification but varied rankings; the NCD/communicable disease ratio shifted from 3.4 (ICD-10) to 2.3 (ICD-11).

Conclusions:

• Transitioning to ICD-11 for cause of death coding can enhance data quality at the national level.
• Effective implementation requires sufficient centralized data and oversight by experienced coders.
• The usability index favored ICD-10 (38.4) over ICD-11 (36.3) in this study.