Objective:

To compare cancer mortality rates in Mexico from two national death registries that independently code and attribute cause of death.

Materials and methods:

We compared 5-year age-standardized total cancer and site-specific cancer mortality rates (2010-2014) from Mexico’s official death registry with a death registry from a disease surveillance system. We obtained age-adjusted mortality rates and 95% confidence intervals using the direct method and World Population Prospects 2010 as a standard.

Results:

Cancer mortality estimates for Mexico were minimally affected by the use of two distinct death certificate-coding procedures. Cancer mortality was 73.3 forInstituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografíaand 72.7 for System for Epidemiolo gic Death Statistics per 100 000 women. The corresponding estimates for men were 68.3 and 67.8.

Conclusion:

Mexico’s low cancer mortality is unlikely to be explained by death certificate processing. Further investigations into the process of death certification and cancer registration should be conducted in Mexico.

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