摘要：The objective of this study is to determine the existence and magnitude of cycles of seasonal variation in Costa Rican mortality, 1970-2016. As methods, it uses the microdata of 630 000 deaths between 1970 and 2016. The cyclic character of seasonality is modeled using sinusoid regression with parameters estimated with Poisson regression. The results show that there is significant seasonality with a peak of deaths in January and a valley in May. Deaths are 7 % higher in the apex than in the nadir. This pattern comes from —mostly road— accidents, alcoholism, brain and cardiovascular diseases and respiratory infections. Seasonality in diarrheal mortality follows a different pattern. As a conclusion, the high mortality in January might be associated to lower temperatures, absence of rainfall, less hours of sunshine, as well as behavior during holidays. Some peaks of mortality may occur because of fluctuations in the quality of health care and emergency care services.
关键词：Mortalidad;Variación estacional;Causas de muerte;Costa Rica
