RESUMEN
In an ecological study based on the 18 microregions that form the city of Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, associations between socio-demographic, environmental and reservoir factors and the incidence of leptospirosis in the city were investigated. Incidence over a 5-year period (2001-2005) and 14 variables were analysed, using central trend and dispersion measurements, Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regression. Variables relating to education, income, housing type, sewage system, rubbish collection and hydrographic factors were found to be significantly correlated with leptospirosis incidence (P<0.05 for each). Just two variables - the proportion of heads of households with incomes less than or equal to the legal minimum (U.S.$83.55/month), and the proportion of households from which rubbish was dumped in skips, lakes, rivers or the sea or on vacant land - explained 60% (P=0.017) of the differences in disease risk observed between the various areas of the city.
Asunto(s)
Leptospirosis/epidemiología , Salud Urbana/estadística & datos numéricos , Brasil/epidemiología , Reservorios de Enfermedades , Humanos , Incidencia , Leptospirosis/transmisión , Eliminación de Residuos/estadística & datos numéricos , Factores de Riesgo , Factores SocioeconómicosRESUMEN
We analyzed differences in infant mortality between areas of Recife, a city in the North East of Brazil, analyzing the relationship between living conditions and the risk of death. We compared infant mortality coefficients for 1995 with indicators of living conditions and collected data for the 770 infant deaths and the 27,965 live births. Neighborhoods were ranked according to the quality of living conditions and were grouped into four clusters. The infant, neonatal and postneonatal mortality coefficients were 27.53, 18.84 and 8.69 per 1,000 live births respectively. Lower quality living conditions were associated with higher coefficients. The main causes of infant deaths were perinatal disorders, the coefficient of which was 14.95 per 1,000 live births, followed by congenital malformations, gastroenteritis and bronchopneumonia. With the exception of congenital malformations, the coefficients of all these causes of death increased as living conditions worsened. These inequalities are generally obscured by the presentation of means for the city as a whole.