About IRIS

IRIS is an automatic system for coding multiple causes of death and for the selection of the underlying cause of death. It can be used in batch mode or interactively. The aim of IRIS is twofold:

1. To provide a system in which the language-dependent aspects are separated from the software itself. Moreover, the language-dependent parts are stored in database tables and can easily be modified.
2. To improve international comparability. IRIS is based on the international death certificate form provided by WHO in Volume 2 of ICD-10 and the causes of death are coded according to the ICD-10 rules. Currently it uses components of the Mortality Medical Data System (MMDS) of the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Updates to ICD-10 are included according to the WHO-timelines. In a next step the components of the MMDS will be replaced by newly designed modules.

IRIS can be used in two modes. In the code entry mode, the user enters ICD-10-WHO codes corresponding to the conditions reported on the death certificates.  IRIS then selects the underlying cause. In this mode IRIS is ready for use as soon as it is installed. In the text entry mode, the user enters the causes of death in free text, as they are reported on the death certificate. For text entry coding, you need a dictionary that translates text into ICD-10 codes. The advantage of including a dictionary is that once a decision has been made on which ICD code to use for a specific diagnostic expression, the expression will be coded in the same way each time it occurs on a death certificate. IRIS also provides means for language standardisation, which very much reduces the size of the dictionary. Note that a minimum English dictionary is provided with the international version.

France, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and Germany are jointly involved in the development of IRIS.