Foram estudados 375 óbitos ocorridos no município de São Paulo, de pessoas de 15 anos ou mais residentes nessa cidade e em cujo atestado de óbito constava a tuberculose como causa básica ou associada. Desses 375 óbitos, foram localizadas 245 famílias dos falecidos e realizadas entrevistas domiciliárias. Houve 287 pacientes que faleceram em hospitais, e em dois desses casos não foi conseguido realizar a entrevista institucional. Dessas entrevistas, pôde ser concluído que os possíveis fatores que influíram nesses óbitos foram o baixo nível sócio-econômico e o alcoolismo; não influíram nestes óbitos a migração e o tabagismo. Foi observado que estes doentes entraram tardiamente no sistema de saúde e a maioria dos que chegaram a ser internados faleceram nos primeiros dias de internação. Foi observado também, que a maioria dos casos não estava notificada, nem como caso nem como óbito, e a Secretaria da Saúde tinha conhecimento de apenas 119 casos. Analisando esses atestados, notou-se que a tuberculose foi causa básica em 88,4 por cento deles e, após a revisão dos mesmos com base nas entrevistas domiciliárias e institucionais, a tuberculose passou a ser causa básica em 92,8 por cento , havendo uma concordância de 95,6 por cento entre o atestado original e o revisto.

Three-hundred and seventy-five deaths of persons aged 15 years or more, which ocurred in São Paulo city, have been studied taking into account the death certificates in which tuberculosis had been appointed as the basic or associate cause of death. From these 375 deaths, 245 families of the deceased have been located and then submitted to domiciliary interviews: it was found out that two-hundred and eighty-seven patients had died in hospitals; in two of the cases it was not possible to make an institutional interview. From these data, some factors which could possibly have influenced the deaths were the low-socioeconomic status and alcoholism; it was found out that neither migration nor tabaccoism had influenced the deaths. It was also noticed that these patients had entered the health system very late and the majority of those who had been duly hospitalized died within the first days of hospitalization. It was also observed that most of the cases had not been reported either, neither as a case nor as a death, being that the State Health Department only had knowledge of 119 cases. Analysing these certificates, it was observed that tuberculosis was the basic cause of death in 88.4 per cent of them, and that after reviewing them on the basis of domiciliary and institutionas interviews, tuberculosis came out to be the basic cause of death in 92.8 per cent 06 the causes, having been reached an agreement of 95.6 per cent between the original certificates and the reviewed ones.