[Quality of death certificates in cases of cancer death in France].

International mortality statistics are based on death certificates on which the causes of death are coded using the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases. Most of these statistics are based on the underlying cause of death and do not use the contributory causes of death. We studied the validity of death certificates in a sample of 1,194 French patients known to have died of cancer, comparing the cause of death reported on the death certificate with the cause of death found in the medical record. Death certificates correctly identify cancer as the cause of death in 95% of the cases and with the exact site in 86% of the cases.