TITLE:
Brazilian Spotted Fever Mortality Profile: 2018 to 2022
AUTHORS:
Danielle Satie Kassada, Paula Cristina Pereira da Costa, Gabriel Borba de Castro, Isabela Cristina Nogueira, Henrique Ceretta Oliveira, Dalvani Marques
KEYWORDS:
Brazilian Spotted Fever, Mortality, Communicable Diseases, Disease Notification
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.13 No.3,
September
20,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: Spotted Fever (SF) is an acute febrile zoonosis of variable severity that typically occurs in an endemic manner with worldwide distribution. Considering that SF is a disease of significant public health importance, this study aims to identify the mortality profile due to SF in Brazil from 2018 to 2022. Methods: Quantitative and descriptive cross-sectional approach. Data were collected from Brazilian Spotted Fever (BSF) cases registered in the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN-DATASUS) across all regions of Brazil. The data collected includes information on the following variables: year of symptom, evolution, sex, race, environment of infection, region of notification, and age group. Subsequently, the data was entered into Microsoft Excel to create tables and graphs. The chi-square test was then applied to statistically analyze the associations between qualitative variables. A modified Poisson regression model with robust variance was constructed to analyze the age group data and determine which categories had different probabilities of death. The results show the estimates obtained for prevalence ratios, as well as their respective confidence intervals and p-values. The statistical software SAS version 9.4 was used to perform the analysis and a significance level of 5% was considered. Results: From 2018 to 2022, a total of 1126 cases of BSF were reported. Out of these cases, 59.3% (668) were cured, 32.4% (364) resulted in death, 1.1% (13) died from other causes and 7.2% (81) had no recorded outcome. Regarding the region with the highest death rate, the Southeast region led with 99.45% (362) of cases, followed by the Northeast region with 0.45% (2). As for the age group, the majority (63.7%) fell between the ages of 20 and 59 years old. In terms of race/color, 52.7% of the population identified as white. Regarding the contamination environment, 39.3% were in leisure areas. The outcome of death by BSF showed statistically significant associations with sex (p-value = 0.03) and age group (p-value = 0.003). Conclusion: The profile of deaths from Brazilian Spotted Fever primarily affects individuals from the Southeast region of the country, particularly men, and whites aged 20 years or older being contaminated mainly in leisure environments. This study provides a detailed understanding of the pattern of BSP-related deaths, providing crucial information for public health authorities. These insights provide valuable support for formulating informed policies and effective BSP control and prevention strategies.