When early diagnosed and treated, cervical cancer is a perfectly avoidable cause of death. In Brazil, however, mortality from cervical cancer is still high and remains a public health problem. This study is aimed at both describing the evolution of such mortality and estimating the potential and productive years of life lost due to this neoplasia in Salvador (Ba), Brazil, between 1979 and 1997. Aggregates of time series were chosen for analysis by considering all deaths of women aged 20 or older who had either cervical cancer as their basic cause of death or cancer in an unspecified part of the cervix. Data from SUS/MS CD-ROM, IBGE and the Health Department of the State of Bahia/SESAB were used. Crude, age-specific and age-standardized mortality rates were taken as indicators. A decrease of 50,6% in the standardized mortality rate for this disease was noted in the period, with values ranging from 17,6/100.000 women in 1979 to 8,7 in 1997. The risk of death due to this neoplasia was found to increase with age, markedly after the age of forty. The average of potencial years of life lost ranged from 15,5 in 1986 to 20,4 in 1980. Mortality from cervical cancer in Salvador was then shown to be still high and the possible determining factors for such evolution were discussed. The need for effective action on the prevention of such morbidity and mortality is emphasized.
cervical cancer; mortality; trends; neoplasia