title: Validity of underlying cause of death statistics in Hermosillo, Mexico.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper assesses the quality of the underlying cause of death (COD) statistics in Hermosillo, Mexico in a random sample of 300 in-hospital adult deaths.
  
  
  METHODS
  A "gold standard" COD, determined by a systematic review of hospital medical charts, was compared to the COD reported by the vital registry system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall agreement between the reviewer and original COD at the ICD-10 chapter block was 69.2%, with a weighted kappa of 0.62. Agreement varied greatly by ICD-10 chapter. Mutual misclassification among common co-morbidities,such as diabetes mellitus and circulatory disease, minimized the net change in the mortality fraction assigned to each ICD-10 chapter after physician review.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ICD-10 chapter level underlying COD codes can be used to estimate disease burden in the population. Caution is recommended for use of vital registry statistics in Hermosillo for individual level or disease-specific analyses.
authors: School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. maryjohofmeister@gmail.com
authors: Mary H Freire
authors: MH
authors: de Carvalho
authors: Gerardo
authors: G
authors: Álvarez-Hernández
authors: Catalina
authors: C
authors: Denman
authors: Siobán D
authors: SD
authors: Harlow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014798:Vital Statistics; D055815:Young Adult