Chronic kidney failure and multiple causes of death: a descriptive analysis for Brazil, 2000-2004

INTRODUCTION: Chronic kidney disease is an illness that affects a growing number of individuals in Brazil and worldwide.OBJECTIVES: To analyze indicators of multiple causes of death for patients in renal replacement therapy in Brazil who died between 2000 and 2004.METHODS: The indicators were calculated based on the number of diagnoses reported on death certificates and on the information on causes of death. The average number of diagnosis per certificate was analyzed by age, sex, treatment mode, and region of residence.RESULTS: Studying the mortality from chronic kidney disease by means of the underlying would lead to information loss. Analysis showed that the average number of diagnoses per death certificate was 2.9 and also that the mortality of this population group is composed of a number of illnesses that often do not appear as underlying cause of death. Multiple causes of death model enhance the possibilities of analysis.CONCLUSIONS: The descriptive analysis is the simplest and most direct way to analyze the mortality from this perspective.