Abstract: Objective This study was conducted tO find out the problems in the direct network report system in terms of reporting of deaths through the comparison of the mortalities and the rates of missing report obtained from the investigation of deaths and direct network reports of deaths among residents，providing a scientific basis for further improvement of direct network re-port system for the surveillance of death causes．Methods A comparative analysis was conducted on the data from the investigation of deaths among residents and from the direct network report on deaths in the medical facilities at the county level or above in the Yicheng District of Zhumadian City in 2005．Results It was showed that the total rate of missing reports on deaths among resi-dents was 87.59％，and the mortality obtained from direct network report system was 56.91/lakh，which was significantly lower than that from the investigation of deaths among residents 458.63/lakh (PP<0．001)．There was no statistical significance between the rates of missing reports on deaths of diseases and on deaths from other causes．Conclusion It is seen that marked missing reports on deaths among residents exist in the facili-ties．The mortality from the direct network report system is far lower than that from the investiga-tion among residents，with the rate of missing reports on deaths among residents in rural areas higher than that in the cities．It is recommended that the direct network report system for the surveillance of death causes be improved with the scope of the surveillance of death causes ex-panded and the technical specifications for the direct network report system for the surveillance of death causes made as sound as possible．The supervision and instruction in these aspects need to be strengthened with an effective award and punishment system used for the betterment of the management．