Perfil de mortalidade do idoso: análise da evolu？？o temporal em uma capital do Nordeste brasileiro de 1996 a 2007

objective: this paper focused on analyzing the temporal evolution of elderly mortality in recife from 1996 to 2007. methods: a study of the temporal evolution was made, considering the universe of obits of the elderly population (>60 years old). mortality coefficients were calculated, standardized by age and gender, through the direct method for sub-groups of age, gender, marital status, basic cause of death, place of death and medical assistance. descriptive analysis and linear regression analysis were performed. results: elderly mortality in recife shows a tendency to decline in the series analyzed, with higher coefficients in the long-lived elderly (>80 anos). the male elderly show higher death rates compared to the female, with a tendency to decline the coefficients. in relation to the marital status, there has been an increase on the death rate concerning the single and legally divorced elderly. most of the obits have occurred in hospitals and with medical assistance at death. a tendency to decrease the death rate through diseases in the circulatory system, infectious and paralyzing diseases, diseases in the digestive system, and not well-defined signs and symptoms has been observed, as well as an increase in death rate through diseases in the genito-urinary system. conclusions: elderly mortality in recife has shown a similar standard to the national reality, with an outstanding tendency to decrease the death coefficients.