Table 4. National Vital Statistics System cause of death codes, by mechanism of death, for law-enforcement-related deaths matched to The Counted.
| Mechanism of death (percent of total; 95% CI) | Underlying cause of death as reported in the National Vital Statistics System (ICD-10 range)1 | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Legal intervention (Y35; Y89.0)2 | Assault (X95–Y09) | Events of undetermined intent or cause missing (Y10–Y34; R99)3 | Suicide (X60–X84) | Accident (V01–X59) | Circulatory/respiratory diseases (I00–J99) | Mental/behavioral disorders (F00–F99) | Other causes of death | ||||||||||
| N | Percent | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | N | Percent (95% CI) | |
| All (100.0%) | 991 | 100.0 | 444 | 44.8 (41.7, 48.0) | 471 | 47.5 (44.4, 50.7) | 22 | 2.2 (1.4, 3.3) | 16 | 1.6 (0.9, 2.6) | 15 | 1.5 (0.8, 2.5) | 14 | 1.4 (0.8, 2.4) | 7 | 0.7 (0.3, 1.4) | 2 | 0.2 (0.0, 0.7) |
| Firearm (92.8%; 91.0, 94.4) | 920 | 100.0 | 434 | 47.2 (43.9, 50.4) | 456 | 49.6 (46.4, 52.8) | 11 | 1.2 (0.6, 2.1) | 16 | 1.7 (1.0, 2.8) | 1 | 0.1 (0.0, 0.6) | 2 | 0.2 (0.0, 0.7) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 0.4) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 0.4) |
| Taser (4.6%; 3.4, 6.1) | 46 | 100.0 | 6 | 13.0 (4.9, 26.3) | 10 | 21.7 (10.9, 36.4) | 8 | 17.4 (7.8, 31.4) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 7.7) | 10 | 21.7 (10.9, 36.4) | 7 | 15.2 (6.3, 28.9) | 5 | 10.9 (3.6, 23.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 7.7) |
| Struck by/against (1.8%; 1.1, 2.9) | 18 | 100.0 | 4 | 22.2 (6.4, 47.6) | 4 | 22.2 (6.4, 47.6) | 2 | 11.1 (1.4, 34.7) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 18.5) | 1 | 5.6 (0.1, 27.3) | 5 | 27.8 (9.7, 53.5) | 2 | 11.1 (1.4, 34.7) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 18.5) |
| Motor vehicle (0.4%; 0.1, 1.0) | 4 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 60.2) | 1 | 25.0 (0.6, 80.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 60.2) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 60.2) | 3 | 75.0 (19.4, 99.4) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 60.2) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 60.2) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 60.2) |
| Neglect (0.3%; 0.1, 0.9) | 3 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 70.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 70.6) | 1 | 33.3 (0.8, 90.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 70.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 70.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 70.6) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0, 70.6) | 2 | 66.7 (0.9, 99.2) |
1Mortality records report 1 underlying cause of death, defined as “(a) the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or (b) the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury” [22]. The records also report up to 20 “multiple causes of death” based on any other health conditions reported on the death certificate. In rare instances (N = 2), legal intervention was reported as a multiple cause of death but not an underlying cause of death. We nonetheless present these cases in the column for legal intervention.
2Excludes legal execution, Y35.5.
3A classification of “events of undetermined intent” signifies that the coder knew (based on death certificate literal text) that the cause of death involved external injuries, but could not identify whether the injury was due to legal intervention, assault, suicide, or accident. “Missing” signifies that the coder was unable to make any determination whatsoever about cause of death.
ICD-10, International Classification of Diseases–10th Revision.