[Verbal autopsy in cervico-uterine cancer]

Verbal autopsy (VA) is a standardized method for investigating causes of death. Currently, the Mexican Ministry of Health uses officially VA to reconstruct the history of women who died of cervical cancer.

to describe the findings of the VA of dead women due to cervical cancer in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

All death certificates issued in the years 2001 and 2001 in which cervical cancer was the main cause of death were reviewed. The VA included forty-five questions exploring six domains: subjects' personal information, sociodemographic characteristics, history of the disease, timely medical care, risk factors, affiliation to social security, and information registered in the death certificate.

Seventy-nine women out of 97 had VA. The mean age was 54 years; 33% completed elementary school; 32% had smoking history; 50% had more than five pregnancies; 42% started sexual activity before the age of 17, 52% had had 2 to 3 sexual partners. 60% had Papanicolau test; 90% knew about their condition; 86% received medical care and 34% knew they had cancer one year before death.

Verbal autopsy revealed that 40% of women who died of cervical cancer did not have Papanicolau test before being diagnosed.