[Verbal autopsy in cervico-uterine cancer].
BACKGROUND
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.


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


METHODS
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.


RESULTS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
Verbal autopsy revealed that 40% of women who died of cervical cancer did not have Papanicolau test before being diagnosed.
Chávez-García
Víctor Manuel
VM
Unidad de Medicina Familiar 27, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Zonana-Nacach
Abraham
A
Duarte
María Eugenia
ME
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D014705:Verbal Behavior