causes of death registered on death certificates in an iranian community based on icd-10

introduction: accurate documentation of the cause of death is critical for health care planning. in this study, the most important causes of death registered on death certificates and the most important issues preventing accurate registration and access to death information in the town of rafsanjan were surveyed. methods: this was a descriptive study. all death certificates (totally 1197) issued during the year 2004 in rafsanjan were reviewed. the relevant information was collected on a checklist. data were analyzed with spss. results: common issues preventing accurate documentation and access to information about the causes of death were as follows: incongruity between available information in different medical centers, incomplete death certificates, difficult access to death information, inaccurate registration of the real causes of death and illegibility of the registered information. the most common cause of death in males was accident and in females was a cardiovascular disease. conclusion: the registration system and access to death information requires extensive modification, therefore, information pertaining causes of death must be used and interpreted cautiously.