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 or interactively. The aim of Iris is twofold:
- 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.
- 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. Updates to ICD-10 are included according to the WHO-timelines.
Since version 5 the Iris software uses the Multicausal and Unicausal Selection Engine (MUSE). MUSE operates based on internationally agreed decision tables which are based on the most recent version of ICD-10.
The new version 5.4.0 of Iris is intended to be used for routine statistics. Previous version 5 releases have been tested thoroughly and detected errors have been corrected.