Communicable disease mortality: now you see it, now you don't.

This presentation proposes that cause-specific mortality analyses are greatly enhanced by first examining the cause-specific pattern of the entire mortality structure instead of restricting initial assessments to a limited number of leading causes of death. Six broad cause groups are defined toward this end. The advantage of defining a single category for communicable diseases, both for the structural and the leading-cause approach is also pointed out. Some examples illustrate the potential usefulness of this approach to the study of the cause-specific mortality structure: a few broad all-inclusive cause-groups provide a first rough--but nevertheless quite informative--overview of the mortality profile, while at the same time offering guidance in regard to groups which should be looked into in greater detail.