Place of death and associated factors in 12 Latin American countries: A total population study using death certificate data.

Background: Little is known about place of death in Latin America, although this data are crucial for health system planning. This study aims to describe place of death and associated factors in Latin America and to identify factors that contribute to inter-country differences in place of death.

Methods: We conducted a total population observational study using death certificates of the total annual decedent populations in 12 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay) for the most recent available year (2016, 2017, or 2018).

Feasibility of using death certificates for studying place of death in Latin America.

Objective: This paper assesses the availability and quality of death certificate data in Latin America and the feasibility of using these data to study place of death and associated factors.

Methods: In this comparative study, we collected examples of current official death certificates and digital data files containing information about all deaths that occurred during 1 year in 19 Latin American countries. Data were collected from June 2019 to May 2020.