Abstract
OBJECTIVES: characterize the sociodemographic profile of the study population; analyze the cause of death described in the report; identify the events that contributed to the death; evaluate the quality of the completion of the Death Certificate (DC) and verify the prenatal follow-up of these children. METHODS: cross-sectional study, using secondary data from necropsy reports performed at the Criciúma and Tubarãos Death Verification Services. Individuals with death between 22 weeks of gestation and the sixth day of life were included, excluding those with more than 50% of the report without completion. The information present in the DC, necropsy reports and complementary tests were evaluated. RESULTS: a total of 212 necropsy reports were evaluated. Among these, 51,4% corresponded to females and 87,7% were caucasians. The majority (85.5%) of the cases analyzed were fetal deaths, with complications of the placenta, umbilical cord and membranes (ICD P02) being the main cause with 73,1% of the cases. There was a lack of completion of intermediate causes in 84,4%, and significant conditions that contributed to death in 98,5% of the reports. Regarding prenatal care, 89.6% underwent follow-up. CONCLUSION: it is emphasized that perinatal mortality is a crucial indicator for prenatal evaluation and factors related to mother and pregnancy. This is because it will be through epidemiological information related to it that public resources will be distributed, in order to reduce the diseases and improve health indicators.