Abstract

OLAZABAL GUERRA, Daniel José et al. Quality of the statistics of mortality in Camagüey province according to quantification of imprecise causes of death. AMC [online]. 2015, vol.19, n.5, pp.459-468. ISSN 1025-0255.

Background: the certification of causes of death is one of the most ancient procedures in medical practice. A correct certification has a great importance since regional and international actions derive from its analysis for raising the quality of life of people by means of health programs. Objective: to asses the quality of the statistics of mortality in Camagüey province in the last 15 years from the quantification of undesirable or imprecise basic causes of death recorded on the medical death certificates. Method: a descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study of the statistics of mortality was conducted in the province of Camagüey including the universe of medical death certificates between the years 2000 and 2014. A documentary review was made and the quality indicators were defined by code groups assigned to the basic cause of death. Results: in Camagüey province, in the studied 15 years (2000-2014), 85 770 deaths happened according to residence; the 6, 74 % of them were codified as undesirable or imprecise basic cause of death. The five-year period 2005-2009 presented the greatest incidence in the certification of this type of basic cause with a tendency to increase in the last five years. Of the 15 years studied, in five years the ratio of change was higher than 1, 30 when analysing the precise value of every year with respect to the rate year (2000), i.e. that it increased in more than a 30 % with respect to the rate year. Conclusions: the medical certification of the undesirable or imprecise basic causes of death in Camagüey province is low and has presented a tendency to decrease in the last five-year period.

Keywords : VITAL STATISTICS; CAUSE OF DEATH; QUALITY INDICATORS; HEALTH CARE; DEATH CERTIFICATES; EPIDEMIOLOGY, DESCRIPTIVE.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )