[Colombian death certificate quality, 2002-2006].

Objective: Mortality study is useful for the estimation of cancer incident cases; but a quality assessment of the mortality information is required previous to the process of cancer incidence estimation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of death-certification in Colombia.

Materials And Methods: Overall quality of death certification and quality of cancer mortality certification was analyzed for the period 2002-2006. Classic validity indexes were described through simple percentages for each district and four cities, where operating population-based cancer registries: Bucaramanga, Cali, Manizales, and Pasto. A principal component analysis was performed in order to identify relationships that might not be evident in the descriptive analysis.

Results: 952 104 registries were analyzed, 150 163 corresponding to cancer deaths. A high quality index was observed for overall death certification, with 92.8 % of the overall mortality properly certified. Most errors were due to ill defined causes of death. A high quality index was also observed for cancer death registration with 91.5 % of the cancer deaths properly certified. Ill-defined, secondary and unspecified cancer sites certification prevailed as the most frequent causes of error.

Conclusion: Colombia has high quality standards for overall death and cancer death certification. Mortality data can be used confidently in the cancer incidence estimation process, without requirements for any specific corrections.