Abstract

MOTA, Santana Maria Marinho; GAMA, Silvana Granado N. da  and  FILHA, Mariza Miranda Theme. Investigation of death in childbearing-aged women to estimate the maternal mortality in the Municipality of Belém, State of Pará, Brazil. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2009, vol.18, n.1, pp.55-64. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742009000100006.

With the aim to estimate the sensibility, specificity, predictive values and Mortality Information System (SIM) agreement, in matching to the investigation of maternal death, all the deaths of women aged 10 through 49 years, recorded in 2004 in the SIM as residents in the Municipality of Belém, capital of the State of Pará, Brazil, were investigated. The research revealed a 75% of SIM sensitivity regarding detection of those maternal deaths, and that, being impossible to investigate all the deaths of women in childbearing age, the investigation of those deaths classified as presumable and declared, according to the criteria and definitions used in the study, was sufficient to identify all the maternal deaths. Fields 43 and 44 of the death certificate (DO) were well filled out, revealing 91% of concordance to the investigation. This study confirms the need to investigate those deaths aiming to improve the quality of the information on maternal mortality.

Keywords : maternal mortality; presumable cause; health surveillance; health indicators.

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