Recovery of the main causes of death in the Northeast of Brazil: impact on life expectancy.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the impact on life expectancy after elimination of the main groups of causes of death in the Brazilian Northeast in 2000. METHODS Data on deaths recorded for the states of Northeastern Brazil in 2000 were extracted from the Mortality Information System. The coverage of death records of children under ten years of age was assessed using indirect procedures. Ledermann's method was used to reclassify the ill-defined death causes, according to sex. Multiple-decrement life tables were constructed for the main groups of causes of death, whose decrement impacts were assessed through life expectancy. RESULTS The total elimination of the main groups of causes in the general mortality resulted in the following gains on the life expectancy of the Northeast for men and women, respectively: infectious and parasitic diseases (1.0 and 0.5 years), malignant neoplasms (1.4 and 1.5 years), circulatory diseases (4.0 and 4.0 years), respiratory diseases (1.1 and 0.8 years), and external causes (2.9 and 0.3 years). CONCLUSIONS The levels of death coverage were found satisfactory, as well as the reclassifications of ill-defined causes for the states. Considering the fact that the vital statistics of the Northeast have not been widely used, due to the argument that their quality limits derivation of reliable mortality indicators, their recovery in a direct way yields consistent results.