Disease, morbid condition, congenital malformation, injury or poisoning, which caused the death or conduced to the death as well as circumstances of the accident or the rape, which caused this injuries.

Medical practice single out :

1. Initial cause of death - a disease, which was at the beginning of the morbid process and which caused the death, it may be also the injury or the poisoning as well as circumstances of the accident or the rape (external cause), which caused the death.
2. Secondary cause of death - a disease, injury or circumstances of the accident, which were the consecution of the initial cause of death.
3. Direct cause of death - a disease, which was a definitive cause of the death as a consecution of the disease, injury or the poisoning as well as the circumstances of the accident, which were the initial and secondary cause of death.

The statistical data on the deaths by causes are worked out on the basis of the initial cause of death.