[Mortality in childbearing-age women in Campinas, São Paulo (1985-1994)]

To provide a profile of the main health problems in childbearing-age women, we studied all 3,086 death certificates from the SEADE Foundation for women from 10 to 49 years of age and residing in the municipality of Campinas, from January 1, 1985, to December 31, 1994. The primary cause of death was identified and classified according to the 10th review of the ICD. Population data were obtained from the Laboratory for Epidemiological Analyses and Research, UNICAMP. One-fourth of the deaths were cardiovascular in origin, one-fifth were from external causes, and almost 20% were due to neoplasms. Maternal mortality was the ninth cause of death. External causes predominated in the 10-to-34-year age group, as compared to cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms in the 35-to-49-year group. Most alarming were the predominance of traffic accidents among causes of death in women up to age 34 (greater than AIDS during the study period) and the high mortality rate from homicides.