Brasilian List of Avidable Causes of Death that can be avoided by National Health System interventions, and its applicability for analysis of perinatal deaths in municipalities in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2011

Objective: to assess the applicability of the Brazilian List of Avoidable Causes of Death (BAL) to perinatal mortality in public maternity hospitals in the states of Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Sao Paulo (SP) in 2011. Methods: this was a descriptive case series study of perinatal deaths using primary data from the Mortality Information System; the BAL was applied, with adaptations (codes P20.9 and P70-74) and, in addition in Rio de Janeiro the Extended Wigglesworth (EW) Classification was also used. Results: according to the BAL, 61.2% of the 98 perinatal deaths were avoidable, mainly by providing adequate attention to women in pregnancy; 'Ill-defined causes of death' accounted for 26.6% of cases, mainly fetal deaths; use of EW in RJ indicated that the 'Antepartum Fetal Death' category was predominant and was related to inadequate prenatal care; this was in line with the BAL. Conclusions: after reallocating some codes, the BAL can improve fetal death evaluation, whereby studies with a larger number of participants are needed.