Assessment of the accuracy of death certification at two referral hospitals.

Background: Death certification is a vital source of information used in mortality statistics worldwide to assess the health of the general population. This study focuses on the consistency of information between the death reports and the clinical records (files) of deceased patients in two hospitals: the King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) and King Fahad National Guard hospital (KFNGH) in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A random sample of the records of 157 deceased patients' registered in 2002 in the two hospitals was retrospectively reviewed independently to determine the underlying cause of death and compare them with death reports.