Mortality and cause of death among first-generation Japanese in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

The death certificates of first-generation Japanese in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, were analysed for underlying causes of death, and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) values were calculated using the age-specific mortality rates for Japan and São Paulo. Mortality rates for all causes were lower than those of the general population in São Paulo for all age groups and both sexes, and were almost equal to those in Japan. Compared with the mortality in Japan, significantly higher SMR values were obtained for diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease, respiratory diseases (females), motor vehicle accidents, and homicide (males), whereas SMR values were low for all causes (males), other heart diseases, cerebrovascular disease, chronic liver diseases (males), suicide, and malignant neoplasms (males). On the other hand, compared with the mortality for São Paulo, SMR values were significantly low for most causes of death. The potential cultural and social factors contributing to these changes in mortality pattern are discussed.