Pulmonary Embolism Mortality in Brazil from 1989 to 2010: Gender and Regional Disparities.

Background: A significant variation in pulmonary embolism (PE) mortality trends have been documented around the world. We investigated the trends in mortality rate from PE in Brazil over a period of 21 years and its regional and gender differences.

Methods: Using a nationwide database of death certificate information we searched for all cases with PE as the underlying cause of death between 1989 and 2010.