Trends in mortality from ill-defined causes among the elderly in Brazil, 1979-2013: ecological study

Seasonality as a risk factor for deaths in Parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND

According to growing evidence, sleep disruption harms biological processes and circadian homeostasis. Diurnal motor symptom volatility in Parkinson's Disease (PD) has been extensively studied. Few studies examined seasonal variability in PD symptoms, some showing it and others not.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether PD patients' deaths follow a rhythmic pattern due to circadian rhythm alterations.

METHODS

This study used only unidentified patient databases. People with PD, ICD10 code G20, in at least one death certificate field were selected. The Continuous Wavelet Transform and Fourier Transform were checked for oscillation and its duration.

RESULTS

The 18-year analysis found 43,072 PD deaths. The Continuous Wavelet transform revealed a 351.87-day annual component (p < 0.05). Winter in the southern hemisphere saw more deaths, mainly in July. The Continuous Wavelet transform identified a significant daily component (p < 0.05) of 22.81 hours. Fatalities peaked around 9 a.m. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in PD, and women and men have the same rhythm pattern.

CONCLUSION

Parkinson's disease mortality in Brazil follows a pattern. Using over 40.000 death certificates from 18 years, the authors found that Parkinson's patient fatalities rise in winter and peak in July at about 9 a.m. Sunlight reduction increases mortality risk in the long term. Low sunshine lowers temperatures, increasing short-term death risk. This is crucial because it prioritizes the sun, seasons, and circadian rhythm over low temperatures.

[Methodological proposal for evaluation of death records from COVID-19]

The limitation of studies on the coverage and completeness of death records is one of the main problems regarding vital statistics in Brazil. In 2020, the number of information systems on death records in Brazil increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, generating more uncertainties about the quality of death records. This study proposed an evaluation of the quality of death records due to COVID-19. Three methodological stages were considered: estimation of deaths under-registration; redistribution of deaths from nonspecific causes (Garbage Codes), and redistribution of deaths from ill-defined causes to COVID-19 data. The proposal was applied in the State of Paraíba, Brazil, and its municipalities in 2020, by using the official records of the Brazilian Mortality Information System of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. In total, 1,281 deaths were retrieved, besides the 3,426 deaths officially recorded for Paraíba State, an increase of 37.4% in deaths from COVID-19. The proposal was effective, easy to apply, and can be used by managers of governmental spheres and people interested in it as a tool to assess the quality of death records for any geographic space, thus, contributing to a better understanding of the real effect of the pandemic.

Changes in the quality of cause-of-death statistics in Brazil: garbage codes among registered deaths in 1996-2016

BACKGROUND

Registered causes in vital statistics classified as garbage codes (GC) are considered indicators of quality of cause-of-death data. Our aim was to describe temporal changes in this quality in Brazil, and the leading GCs according to levels assembled for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. We also assessed socioeconomic differences in the burden of different levels of GCs at a regional level.

METHODS

We extracted data from the Brazilian Mortality Information System from 1996 to 2016. All three- and four-digit ICD-10 codes considered GC were selected and classified into four categories, according to the GBD study proposal. GC levels 1 and 2 are the most damaging unusable codes, or major GCs. Proportionate distribution of deaths by GC levels according selected variables were performed. Age-standardized mortality rates after correction of underreporting of deaths were calculated to investigate temporal relationships as was the linear association adjusted for completeness between GC rates in states and the Sociodemographic Index (SDI) from the GBD study, for 1996-2005 and 2006-2016. We classified Brazilian states into three classes of development by applying tertiles cutoffs in the SDI state-level estimates.

RESULTS

Age-standardized mortality rates due to GCs in Brazil decreased from 1996 to 2016, particularly level 1 GCs. The most important GC groups were ill-defined causes (level 1) in 1996, and pneumonia unspecified (level 4) in 2016. At state level, there was a significant inverse association between SDI and the rate of level 1-2 GCs in 1996-2005, but both SDI and completeness had a non-expected significant direct association with levels 3-4. In 2006-2016, states with higher SDIs tended to have lower rates of all types of GCs. Mortality rates due to major GCs decreased in all three SDI classes in 1996-2016, but GC levels 3-4 decreased only in the high SDI category. States classified in the low or medium SDI groups were responsible for the most important decline of major GCs.

CONCLUSION

Occurrence of major GCs are associated with socioeconomic determinants over time in Brazil. Their reduction with decreasing disparity in rates between socioeconomic groups indicates progress in reducing inequalities and strengthening cause-of-death statistics in the country.

Salário de médicos contratados da Estratégia Saúde da Família e contexto municipal: estudo ecológico

RESUMO O salário é um importante fator de atração, fixação e satisfação de profissionais médicos na Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS), sobretudo nas regiões mais remotas ou carentes. Este estudo tem o objetivo de identificar características contextuais municipais que estejam associadas ao valor do salário pago a médicos contratados da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF). Realizou-se um estudo ecológico e transversal com 78 municípios da Macrorregião de Saúde Norte, Minas Gerais, Brasil. A variável dependente referiu-se ao valor pago aos médicos contratados da ESF. Foram consideradas 22 variáveis independentes contextuais incluindo características sociodemográficas, de localização e indicadores assistenciais e de saúde de cada município, coletados de bases de dados oficiais. Conduziu-se Regressão Linear Múltipla. A média salarial encontrada foi de R$11.188,61 (±R$2.093,71), variando de R$6.388,20 até R$17.000,00. Após ajuste do modelo, somente a Distância ao Centro Regional manteve-se positivamente associada ao desfecho (R2=6,4%). O salário dos médicos não foi determinado por características municipais contextuais mensuráveis. Outros fatores mais subjetivos, de difícil mensuração, podem estar envolvidos na questão. Observa-se a necessidade do estabelecimento de parâmetros claros para definição do valor do salário de médicos contratados para atuação na ESF.

Tendência temporal da mortalidade em idosos em municípios no estado do Acre

Resumo Objetivo Analisar a tendência temporal da mortalidade na população de idosos em municípios selecionados das cinco regionais de desenvolvimento no estado do Acre, Brasil. Método Estudo descritivo, ecológico de séries temporais, que utilizou dados do Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade (SIM), no qual foi selecionado o universo de óbitos ocorridos em idosos, registrados nos municípios acreanos de 1996 a 2015. Foram calculadas as taxas de mortalidade brutas e ajustadas por idade, utilizando o método direto e a população mundial como referência. Para a análise das tendências, foi realizada a estimativa da variação percentual anual da mortalidade com nível de confiança de 95% pelo software Joinpoint Regression Program. Resultados A tendência da mortalidade geral apresentou-se decrescente em Rio Branco e com oscilações nos demais municípios investigados. As principais causas de óbito foram as doenças do aparelho circulatório, respiratório e neoplasias. Em Rio Branco, as taxas de mortalidade padronizadas por idade nas doenças do aparelho circulatório reduziram 2,26% (p<0,001) ao ano e as neoplasias apresentaram tendência crescente e constante com uma variação anual de 1,02% (p=0,010). Conclusão O estudo mostrou evidências de polarização epidemiológica, geográfica e social no comportamento das tendências da mortalidade. Rio Branco, a capital do estado, apresentou padrões semelhantes aos das regiões desenvolvidas brasileiras. Por outro lado, os demais municípios apresentaram consideráveis oscilações nas tendências que podem estar relacionadas à elevada proporção de causas mal definidas. Esses achados podem auxiliar no planejamento de ações estratégicas e sugestões de hipóteses para novos estudos.

Quality of data on causes of death in southern Brazil: the importance of garbage causes

INTRODUCTION

The study objective was to analyze the quality of data on causes of death in southern Brazil.

METHODS

Mortality Information System (SIM - Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade) data were used to evaluate the occurrence of Garbage Causes (GC) in death certificates (DCs) of residents of South states and their capitals between 2015 and 2016. The GC of each state were compared to the other states and grouped by severity level (N1 to N4, according to decreasing potential impact on mortality profile). We evaluated the N1 and N2 GC in the 0-74 years, in accordance with local of occurrence and attesting professional.

RESULTS

The occurrence of GC ranged from 29 to 31% among the three states, below the national average (34%). The GC of levels N1 and N2 were similar between states and heterogeneous between capitals. Most deaths were in-hospital, between 55%-64% of N1 and N2 GC occurred in the states and 39%-55% in the capitals. As for home deaths, this number ranged between 25%-31% and 25%-40%, respectively. More than 30% of the attesting professionals (except in Florianópolis) were declared as "others" in the corresponding DC field. Physicians from the Forensic Medical Institute (IML) and Death Verification Service (SVO) attested 15 to 24% of N1 and N2 GC in the states and 33 to 66% in the state capitals.

CONCLUSION

The improvement of mortality data should involve strategies aimed at hospital physicians, in accordance with the volume of deaths and the IML and SVO services in addition to support for the emission of home DC, due to the importance in generating more severe GC.