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RESUMOOBJETIVO: Investigar associação entre alguns indicadores de nível socioeconômico e mortalidade de adultos por doenças cardiovasculares no Brasil. MÉTODOS:Foram analisados os óbitos de adultos (35 a 64 anos), ocorridos entre 1999 a 2001, por doenças cardiovasculares, e pelos subgrupos das doenças isquêmicas do coração e doenças cerebrovasculares-hipertensivas, obtidos no Sistema de Informação sobre Mortalidade. Foram selecionados para análise 98 municípios brasileiros, com melhor qualidade de informação. Para analisar a associação entre indicadores socioeconômicos e a mortalidade por doenças cardiovasculares, foi utilizada a regressão linear simples e múltipla. RESULTADOS:Na análise univariada, verificou-se associação negativa para a mortalidade por doenças cardiovasculares e o subgrupo das cerebrovasculareshipertensivas com renda e escolaridade, e associação direta com taxa de pobreza e condições precárias de moradia. Quanto às doenças isquêmicas, houve associação inversa com taxa de pobreza e escolaridade, e direta com condições precárias de moradia. A escolaridade, após ajuste pelo modelo de regressão linear múltipla, permaneceu associada à mortalidade pela doença investigada e seus subgrupos. A cada ponto percentual de aumento na proporção de adultos com alta escolaridade, a taxa de mortalidade por doenças cardiovasculares diminui em 3,25 por 100.000 habitantes. CONCLUSÕES:A análise da mortalidade dos municípios mostrou que a associação entre doenças cardiovasculares e fatores socioeconômicos é inversa, destacando-se a escolaridade. É provável que melhor escolaridade possibilite melhores condições de vida e, conseqüentemente, impacto positivo na mortalidade precoce. ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between some indicators of socioeconomic status and adult mortality due to cardiovascular diseases in Brazil. METHODS:Adult deaths (aged between 35 and 64 years) due to cardiovascular diseases and subgroups of ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular-hypertensive

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The data suggest that doctors frequently persuaded their patients to accept a scheduled cesarean section for conditions that either did not exist or did not justify this procedure. The problem identified in this paper may extend well beyond Brazil and should be of concern to those with responsibility for ethical behavior in obstetrics.

Despite their longer life expectancy, the women faced more years with functional disability. The number of years with functional disability and dependence was also higher for the women. Public policies should take into account the differing needs of elderly women and of elderly men as well as other specific characteristics of this older population.

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ObjectiveTo analyze the infant mortality trend in a metropolitan area, from 1984 to 1998. The main focus was on avoidable causes of neonatal and post-neonatal mortality. ResultsDuring the 15 year period in question, the infant mortality rate declined from 48.5 to 22.1/1,000 live births. However, the most accentuated decrease was observed during the last four years of the study period. The post-neonatal group was greatly responsible for this decline both in the capital and in the other districts within the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. Conclusions Although a significant decrease in the infant mortality rate has been observed, particularly in the post-neonatal mortality, it is still larger than the rates found in developed countries. Deaths due to perinatal morbidities as well as the group of causes represented by diarrhea-pneumonia-malnutrition still present an important potential for reduction. The authors discuss the role of the health services in improving the rates of these avoidable causes of infant mortality.

Eighty percent of Brazilian population is assisted by the public health system (SUS), while the rest uses private health insurance. The existing number of beds do not meet the entire demand and Brazilian government has made efforts to improve the system. The Health Ministry has analyzed a new proposal for planning the bed capacity. This proposal uses a queuing model and a new categorization of hospitalization and beds, taking into account specialties, age of the patients, and appropriate occupancy rates. In this paper, we use the proposed technique to estimate the required beds for Belo Horizonte, a mid-sized city in Brazil. We compare number of beds required by centralized and non-centralized administration. A simulation model was developed to analyze the dynamic behavior of the system and searching for the best configuration. This model was used to evaluate the results obtained by queuing model and to check its usability.