[Female breast cancer mortality in Brazil according to color].

Purpose: To describe the mortality of female breast cancer in Brazil according to color, in the years 2000 and 2010.

Methods: A descriptive study in which demographic data were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The breast cancer death information in Brazil was collected from the Ministry of Health through the Mortality Information System (SIM). The crude mortality rates for female breast cancer were calculated according to color and age group, up to 49 years and ≥50 years. The results obtained were distributed into five geographical regions of the country (North, Northeast, Midwest, South and Southeast).

Results: In Brazil, in women aged 50 or more, the highest crude mortality rates of breast cancer in 2000 were 62.6/100,000, 46.0/100,000 and 29.7/100,000 among yellow, white and black women, respectively. In women under 50 years in 2000, the crude mortality ranged from 2.0/100,000 among indigenous women to 6.8/100,000 among white women. After ten years, in women over 50 years, the crude mortality rate among yellow, white and black women was 21.5, 53.2 and 40.4 per 100,000, respectively. In the country's regions, the highest mortality rates of breast cancer were observed in white and black women from the South and Southeast. In the Northeast, mortality rates in black and brown women doubled in 2010.

Conclusion: Breast cancer mortality rates show ethnic and geographical variations. However, it is not possible to exclude the possibility that large variations have occurred as a result of improvement in the quality of information on mortality in the country.