Resumen

SEUC, Armando H; DOMINGUEZ, Emma; GALLARDO, Ulises  y  DE ARMAS, Yamila. Burden of mortality in Cerro municipality and in the City of Havana. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2006, vol.32, n.3. ISSN 0864-3466.

This paper stems, on one hand, from the experience accumulated in a branch project entitled “Burden of diseases in Cuba”, and on the other hand, from the interests of Health Municipal Division of Cerro municipality to study the behavior of the main causes of death in this territory. The burden of diseases was examined in terms of “potential years of life lost due to premature death” indicator, according to the methodology. They were estimated and submitted without time discount or age weighing for Cerro municipality and the City of Havana province. The mentioned indicator and mortality rates were taken from years 1990, 1995 and 2000, which allows studying their trends in the course of time. A total of 20 groups of diseases were discussed, namely: heart diseases, malignant tumors, artery, arterioles and capillary vessels diseases, accidents, neuropsychiatric conditions, digestive diseases, and specified and non-specified chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Several diseases showed differences in behavior in both territories, which indicates the need of adapting the strategies and health actions of a certain region to the particularities of each territory being part of it. Some groups of diseases that are not usually seen as important cause of death such as “neuropsychiatric conditions” had very significant burden in both territories. The results of this paper were useful for the decision-making process in Cerro municipality regarding healthcare, medical education and research

Palabras clave : Mortality; burden of diseases; territorial research; City of Havana province; Cerro municipality.