[Hospital mortality at the Manuel Velasco Suárez National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (1995-2001)].
To improve health policies directed toward ameliorating quality and also to characterize the profile of patients who attend medical centers, it is necessary to determine causes of mortality in any healthcare organization.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze time-trend hospital mortality at the Manuel Velasco Suárez National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (MVS-NINN) between 1995 and 2001.


METHODS
Data were taken from database of morbidity, and mortality of MVS-NINN. All cases were coded by the International Classification of Disease (10th edition). We calculated specific rates of mortality and time-trends during a 7-year-period.


RESULTS
When main causes of mortality were included in these analyzes, rates of hospital mortality at MVS-NINN showed a non-significant tendency to decrease during this period.


CONCLUSIONS
Decline of mortality time-trend is generally in accordance with increasing life expectancy of Mexican population; this increase is due to progress in medical knowledge and to new technological and therapeutic advances, especially in the third level institutions such as this institute.
Velásquez-Pérez
Leora
L
Departamento de Epidemiología, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, México. lvelasquez@innn.edu.mx
Jiménez-Marcial
María Esther
ME
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy