Abstract

VANDERLEI, Lygia Carmen; ARRUDA, Bertoldo Kruse Grande de; FRIAS, Paulo Germano de  and  ARRUDA, Suely. Quality evaluation of the completeness of death certificates at a tertiary maternal-infant health care unit. Inf. Epidemiol. Sus [online]. 2002, vol.11, n.1, pp.7-14. ISSN 0104-1673.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S0104-16732002000100002.

After more than two decades of use, the Mortality Information System in Brazil still has problems of credibility. Distortions in the registration of Death Certificates (DC) are observed even at reference health centers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the completeness of DC and the gain of recovering abscent data from medical records in a tertiary health care unit in Recife, Pernambuco-Brazil. The study was conducted during the first semester of 1999. Original DC were compared before and after they had been corrected. Essential variables of the DC were unfilled in 0.7 to 10.9%. Compared to those obtained all missing data were recovered from the medical records. The information for children under one year of age was absent in 27 to 47% and data could be recovered in less than 50% of the medical records, being absent in most cases despite of the clinical and epidemiological importance for the analysis of infant mortality risk factors. The uncompleteness of DC and the unsatisfactory recovery of missing data from medical records underscare the lack of recognition by doctors of their role in generating information. Hospital Epidemiology Units should be developed to offer training and continuing education to clinical staff.

Keywords : Infant Mortality; Death Certificates; Quality Evaluation; Information System.

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