[Hospital system as a source of information to estimate stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates]

Studies on the evolution of infant mortality rate are very relevant. Nevertheless, lack of vital statistics in Brazil limits the temporal and spatial analysis of this indicator. This study aims to investigate the possible use of the Brazilian Hospital Information System as an alternative information source for stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates by age group.

A new method to estimate the stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates is proposed. It was applied in a set of selected Brazilian states in the year of 1995. For comparative purposes, the Brazilian Death Information System was assessed to estimate the mortality rates under study, after adjusting the registered number of live births by using a demographic tool.

By assessing the Hospital Information System a larger number of fetal and early neonatal deaths were observed when compared to data given by the death information system of the Northeastern states. Besides, in the Southern and Southeastern states, where death records are more thorough, the mortality rates calculated using both information sources were very similar.

The results suggest that the proposed methodology could greatly contribute to the analysis of the spatial-time evolution of stillbirth and neonatal death rates in recent years in Brazil, as data on death registration in the majority of the Brazilian states are less thorough than those from the hospital information system.