Validation of physician certified verbal autopsy using conventional autopsy: a large study of adult non-external causes of death in a metropolitan area in Brazil.

Background: Reliable mortality data are essential for the development of public health policies. In Brazil, although there is a well-consolidated universal system for mortality data, the quality of information on causes of death (CoD) is not even among Brazilian regions, with a high proportion of ill-defined CoD. Verbal autopsy (VA) is an alternative to improve mortality data.

Levels of Polonium-210 in brain and pulmonary tissues: Preliminary study in autopsies conducted in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The accumulation of detectable amounts of radon progeny in human tissues may be a risk factor for development and progression of chronic diseases. In this preliminary study, we analyzed the levels of alpha-emitting radon progeny Polonium-210 (Po) in the olfactory epithelium, olfactory bulb, frontal lobe, and lung tissues in cadavers from the city of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. We also assessed the association between Po levels and exposure parameters for urban air pollution using linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, smoke, time living in Sao Paulo, daily commuting, socioeconomic index, and anthracosis (traffic-related black carbon accumulation in the pleural region and in lymph).

Pleural anthracosis as an indicator of lifetime exposure to urban air pollution: An autopsy-based study in Sao Paulo.

Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between air pollution and adverse health effects using a wide variety of methods to assess exposure. However, the assessment of individual long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is a challenging task and has not been evaluated in a large autopsy study. Our goal was to investigate whether exposure to urban air pollution is associated to the degree of lung anthracosis, considering modifying factors such as personal habits, mobility patterns and occupational activities.