Adult and elderly mortality in Brazil: an assessment of quality of cause of death data

Mortality Information System (MIS) with responsibility for compiling cause of death data in Brazil was created by Ministry of Heath in 1975. Despite MIS continuous improvements, Brazil was categorized in 2000 as producing medium-quality death registration data. The aim of this proposal is to evaluate the evolution of quality of causes of death data, to describe the profile of deceased with ill-defined or unspecified cause of death and to evaluate the impact of the improvement of quality of data on mortality levels from some specific causes of death among adults and elders (15-59 and 60+) in Brazil from 1980 to 2010. For evaluating cause of death data quality we considered the criteria of completeness and validity. To analyze the profile of deceased with ill-defined cause of death, socio-demographic characteristics and variables on circumstances of death and its certification are considered. Although the important improvement in levels of completeness and validity of causes of death data in Brazil, especially after 2005, differences in quality of data among regions, age and other characteristics persist. With population rapidly aging, to assess quality of data on adult and elderly mortality in order to better evaluate health policy for these age groups is extremely important.