Mortality among adults has been increasingly analyzed in developed countries because it has become relatively more important than mortality in other age groups. Social inequalities have been assessed in these studies. In developing countries these issues have not been sufficiently analyzed. This article aims to detect social differences in mortality among adults in City of São Paulo, between 1990 and 1992. The urban area of the City of São Paulo was divided into four socioeconomic homogeneous areas. This division was based on socioeconomic variables obtained from the 1991 demographic census. Comparing the four areas, the results showed important differences in several death indexes and death rates. Death rates for most basic causes were higher in underprivileged areas. The main causes of adult mortality were cardio-vascular diseases, tumors, accidents and violence. Some possible groups of determinants that could explain the differences in the mortality pattern found in the City of São Paulo were discussed: different prevalence of known risk factors for chronic diseases; different access to adequate medical care; different quality of urban environment, and different socioeconomic levels of the population living in different areas of the city.
Mortality; Adult; Socioeconomic factors; Social iniquity; Residence characteristics
