Table 1.

Classification systems and the type of information required to assign cause of death and contributing factors

Classification system			Complexity			Source and type of information required to use classification system
Name/publication title	Authors	Year of development first publication or use	Scope	No. of main categories	No. of levels	Clinical records	Full autopsy	Histological autopsy	Other requirement(s)
Aberdeen classification	Baird	1954	Perinatal	8	1	√			Accurate gestational age or birthweight
Classification of causes of perinatal mortality	Bound et al.	1956	Perinatal	11	1	√	√	√
British Perinatal Mortality Survey ‐ First Report	Butler and Bonham	1963	Perinatal	9	1	√	√
Amended Aberdeen	Baird and Thomson	1969	Perinatal	10	2	√	√
A clinical classification of the mechanisms of perinatal wastage	Low et al.	1970	Perinatal	8	1	√
Clinical classification of perinatal deaths	Knutzen et al.	1975	Perinatal	8	1	√
Perinatal death: audit and classification	Chang et al.	1979	Perinatal	15	3	√
Wigglesworth	Wigglesworth	1980	Perinatal	5	1	√
Causes of stillbirth: a clinicopathological study of 243 patients	Hovatta et al.	1983	Stillbirth	10	2	√	√		Serum enzymes assay; oral glucose tolerance test
Classifying perinatal death: fetal and neonatal factors	Hey, Lloyd and Wigglesworth	1986	Perinatal	11	2	√	√
Extended Wigglesworth	CESDI	2001				√
Perinatally related waste – a proposed classification of primary obstetric factors	Whitfield et al.	1986	Perinatal	12	1	√	√
Classifying perinatal death: an obstetric approach	Cole et al.	1986	Perinatal	10	2	√			Rhesus compatibility test
International Collaborative Effort (ICE)	Cole et al.	1989	Perinatal	8	1	√
Classification of perinatal death	Keeling et al.	1989	Perinatal	5	1	√	√	√	Chromosomal assay
Classification of Primary Cause of Fetal Death	Fretts et al.	1992	Stillbirth	10	1	√	√	√
A new hierarchical classification of causes of infant deaths in England and Wales	Alberman et al.	1994	Perinatal	9	1	√
Nordic‐Baltic	Langhoff‐Roos et al.	1996	Perinatal	13	1	√			Accurate gestational age
A computer‐based method of cause of death classification in stillbirths and neonatal deaths	Winbo et al.	1997	Perinatal	6	1	√			Computerized record system
Neonatal and Intrauterine Death Classification according to Etiology (NICE)	Winbo et al.	1998	Perinatal	13	1	√			Computerized record system
Evaluation of 239 cases of perinatal death using a fundamental classification system	de Galan‐Roosen et al.	2002	Perinatal	7	2	√
ICD‐10	WHO	2004				√
Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand – Perinatal Death Classification (PSANZ‐PDC)	Chan et al.	2004	Perinatal	11	1	√
Relevant Condition at Death (ReCoDe)	Gardosi et al.	2005	Stillbirth	9	1	√	√
Tulip	Korteweg et al.	2006	Perinatal	6	2	√	√	√	Chromosomal assay
Stockholm classification of stillbirth	Varli et al.	2008	Stillbirth	17	2	√
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD)	Reddy et al.	2009	Stillbirth	15	2	√
Causes of death and associated conditions (CODAC)/Simplified CODAC	Frøen et al.	2009	Perinatal	10	1	√
Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand – Perinatal Death Classification (PSANZ‐PDC) – Version 2.2	PSANZ	2009	Perinatal	11	3	√
Initial Causes of Fetal Death (INCODE)	Dudley et al.	2010	Stillbirth	6	1	√	√	√	Interview with mother/parents
ICD‐PM	WHO	2016	Perinatal	3	3	√

ICD, International Classification of Diseases; MM, deaths during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium; PM, perinatal mortality.