[Analysis of the reliability of the declaration of cancer as the basic cause of death in Salvador, Brazil].

The accuracy of the cancer mortality figures was determined by comparing the underlying causes of death as coded on death certificates with pathology reports and hospital diagnoses of a sample of 966 deaths of the total deaths occurring in Salvador during 1983. The death certificates were found to be accurate in 65% of 485 cancer deaths studied. Thirty-five histologically confirmed cancer deaths were found in a random sample of 481 deaths from other causes (460 stating other causes and 21 stating cancer sites that were not under study). This means that, approximately 700 more cancer deaths may be hidden among the remaining 10,098 death certificates.