[Quality of Mortality statistics in Chile, 1997-2003]

Death certification is the basis for the study of mortality patterns and the identification of leading causes of death. These data are used for planning health policies and prevention programs.

To evaluate the quality of mortality statistics in Chile from 1997 and 2003.

Mortality data from 1997 to 2003 available at the Chilean Ministry of Health was used. Quality of information was evaluated using the percentage of certifications done by physicians and ill-defined causes of death according to rural or urban residence, medical services, age and gender.

Death certification done by physicians increased from 97.6% to 99.0% in the studied period. The greatest increase was observed in rural areas, from 89.9% to 94,8%. There was a steady reduction in the percentage of ill-defined causes of deaths, from 4.7% in 1997 to 2.8% in 2003. The percentage of ill-defined causes had a great variation among the different medical services. The variation went from 1.5% in Magallanes to 13.7% in Araucania Sur. There was an inverse linear correlation between death certification by physicians and ill-defined conditions.

Quality of Chilean mortality statistics has improved over time. Nevertheless, there is still space for enhancement for the appropriate use of this information.