Abstract

LUIZAGA, Carolina Terra de Moraes; GOTLIEB, Sabina Léa Davidson; JORGE, Maria Helena Prado de Mello  and  LAURENTI, Ruy. Maternal deaths: reviewing the adjustment factor for official data. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2010, vol.19, n.1, pp.8-15. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742010000100002.

The objectives were to compare maternal deaths notified at the Ministry of Health Information System on Mortality (SIM/MS) with those detected in the "Study on the mortality of fertile women in Brazil" and to estimate a new adjustment factor. A total of 7,332 official death certificates (DC), from the 1st semester of 2002, of women aged 10-49, residents in the nation's state capitals, were analyzed. Database linkage was performed to compare the underlying cause of death at SIM/MS with the study results. Data show there was inadequate notification of deaths due to maternal causes (21.4%) and to maternal deaths (16%). The new national adjustment factor for maternal deaths was 1.19. Committees on Maternal Mortality are efficient; nevertheless, there is lack of information on official deaths, which could make it difficult to manage adequately the situation.

Keywords : maternal death; health information systems; death certificates.

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