BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most prevalent among women worldwide. Its incidence in Brazil is around 49 cases per 100,000 women. OBJECTIVE: It was to estimate the epidemiological profile of breast malignancy mortality in women living in the region of the Coal Belt of Santa Catarina (AMREC) from 1980 to 2009. METHODS: Study time, with descriptive and ecological data from the Mortality Information System and Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, available by the Ministry of Health of Santa Catarina. We calculated mortality rate by dividing the number of deaths from the female population living in the same place and period, and multiplied by 100,000. RESULTS: There was a higher rate in Urussanga for all years analyzed (9.2/100,000 women) and lowest in Treviso (0.0/100,000 women). Of the 30 years analyzed, 2007 had the highest average coefficient (13.0/100,000), and the lowest was found in 1987 (2.3/100,000). In terms of age, the highest average coefficient was found in greater than 80 years (63.1/100,000). CONCLUSIONS: We found increased mortality rate from breast cancer in AMREC, predominant in white, married, with more than 80 years and low education women that may be coming from sociodemographic characteristics or the precocity of diagnostic tests, among others. However, future research should investigate the causes leading to the statistics presented.
mortality rate; breast neoplasms; epidemiology, descriptive