title: [Use of mortality data for the study of the distribution of respiratory tract tumors in Italy: characteristics and quality of the data].
abstract: This paper reviews Italian studies that deal with the accuracy of death certificates in patients with cancers of the respiratory system, particularly cancers of the larynx, lung, and pleura. These studies consider death certificates vs postmortem examinations, diagnoses histologically confirmed, and clinical and cancer registry records. The large number of cases cured by surgery is reflected in the lower levels of larynx cancers mortality vs incidence. Site misclassifications, and erroneous reports of cancer on death certificates for patients cured of the disease, lead to an overreporting of death certification vs autopsies. The death certificates for lung cancer have a high agreement with clinical diagnoses, but present underreporting when compared to autopsies, which frequently discover tumors at postmortem examination. Pleura cancer is often misclassified as lung cancer. Improvement in death certification over time could have influenced the observed increase in the mortality trend for this tumor.
authors.affiliation: Registro Tumori Toscano, Firenze.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barchielli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geddes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010039:Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D012042:Registries; D012142:Respiratory Tract Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology
vernacular_title: Uso dei dati di mortalità per lo studio della diffusione dei tumori dell'apparato respiratorio in Italia: caratteristiche e qualità dei dati.