SummaryBackgroundA key component of achieving universal health coverage is ensuring that all populations have access to quality health care. Examining where gains have occurred or progress has faltered across and within countries is crucial to guiding decisions and strategies for future improvement. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) to assess personal health-care access and quality with the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index for 195 countries and territories, as well as subnational locations in seven countries, from 1990 to 2016.MethodsDrawing from established methods and updated estimates from GBD 2016, we used 32 causes from which death should not occur in the presence of effective care to approximate personal health-care access and quality by location and over time. To better isolate potential effects of personal health-care access and quality from underlying risk factor patterns, we risk-standardised cause-specific deaths due to non-cancers by location-year, replacing the local joint exposure of environmental and behavioural risks with the global level of exposure. Supported by the expansion of cancer registry data in GBD 2016, we used mortality-to-incidence ratios for cancers instead of risk-standardised death rates to provide a stronger signal of the effects of personal health care and access on cancer survival. We transformed each cause to a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the first percentile (worst) observed between 1990 and 2016, and 100 as the 99th percentile (best); we set these thresholds at the country level, and then applied them to subnational locations. We applied a principal components analysis to construct the HAQ Index using all scaled cause values, providing an overall score of 0–100 of personal health-care access and quality by location over time. We then compared HAQ Index levels and trends by quintiles on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary measure of overall development. As derived from the broader GBD study and other data sources, we examined relationships between national HAQ Index scores and potential correlates of performance, such as total health spending per capita.FindingsIn 2016, HAQ Index performance spanned from a high of 97·1 (95% UI 95·8–98·1) in Iceland, followed by 96·6 (94·9–97·9) in Norway and 96·1 (94·5–97·3) in the Netherlands, to values as low as 18·6 (13·1–24·4) in the Central African Republic, 19·0 (14·3–23·7) in Somalia, and 23·4 (20·2–26·8) in Guinea-Bissau. The pace of progress achieved between 1990 and 2016 varied, with markedly faster improvements occurring between 2000 and 2016 for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, whereas several countries in Latin America and elsewhere saw progress stagnate after experiencing considerable advances in the HAQ Index between 1990 and 2000. Striking subnational disparities emerged in personal health-care access and quality, with China and India having particularly large gaps between locations with the highest and lowest scores in 2016. In China,...

SummaryBackgroundPolitical, economic, and epidemiological changes in Brazil have affected health and the health system. We used the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 (GBD 2016) results to understand changing health patterns and inform policy responses.MethodsWe analysed GBD 2016 estimates for life expectancy at birth (LE), healthy life expectancy (HALE), all-cause and cause-specific mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and risk factors for Brazil, its 26 states, and the Federal District from 1990 to 2016, and compared these with national estimates for ten comparator countries.FindingsNationally, LE increased from 68·4 years (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 68·0–68·9) in 1990 to 75·2 years (74·7–75·7) in 2016, and HALE increased from 59·8 years (57·1–62·1) to 65·5 years (62·5–68·0). All-cause age-standardised mortality rates decreased by 34·0% (33·4–34·5), while all-cause age-standardised DALY rates decreased by 30·2% (27·7–32·8); the magnitude of declines varied among states. In 2016, ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of age-standardised YLLs, followed by interpersonal violence. Low back and neck pain, sense organ diseases, and skin diseases were the main causes of YLDs in 1990 and 2016. Leading risk factors contributing to DALYs in 2016 were alcohol and drug use, high blood pressure, and high body-mass index.InterpretationHealth improved from 1990 to 2016, but improvements and disease burden varied between states. An epidemiological transition towards non-communicable diseases and related risks occurred nationally, but later in some states, while interpersonal violence grew as a health concern. Policy makers can use these results to address health disparities.FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Abstract

The authors confirmed Green Tobacco Sickness in southern Brazil; the authors recommend investigation of its prevalence in tobacco-growing regions and monitoring of and education about the disease and its prevention by occupational health authorities.

The analyses showed differences in the prevalence of determinants of chronic diseases by demographic characteristics such as gender, age and schooling. Men were more likely to be current smokers, overweight, and consumers of soft drinks, fatty meat and alcohol. They were also more likely to be more active in leisure. Women reported being more likely to eat healthy, but also were more likely to have a physician diagnosis of high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, osteoporosis and overall poor health status. In general, the prevalence of risk factors studied increased with decreasing levels of schooling. Discussion: The VIGITEL system was implemented to monitor changes in the prevalence of determinants of chronic diseases over time to inform public health workers and decision makers to adjust existing programs and policies according to the changing profile of consumers. The ultimate goal is to improve the health of the Brazilian population.

Objective: To analyze trend estimates on the prevalence of risk and protective behaviors for chronic noncommunicable diseases in adolescents, according to data from the National School Health Survey in 2009, 2012 and 2015. Methods: Data from the three cross-sectional studies in Brazilian capitals and the Federal District were used. In total, 173,310 adolescents enrolled in the ninth grade of elementary school were interviewed, with average age of 14 years. The prevalence of indicators of protective (consumption of beans and fruit; physical education classes at school; practice of physical activity for 60 minutes or more) and risk factors (consumption of candies and soft drinks; use of cigarettes and alcohol in the last 30 days; drug testing) were estimated through linear regression. Results: There was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the prevalence of fruit consumption and in the reduction of bean, soft drinks and candies consumption, as well as the consumption of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. However, an increase in the prevalence of illicit drug experimentation was observed. Discussion: Despite the tendency to reduce risk factors, prevalences are high when compared with other sociocultural realities. Conclusion: The school is an important area of access to the adolescent public, and it is necessary to encourage school health promotion programs to reduce health risk behaviors, as well as to stimulate protective ones.

O presente estudo avaliou a confiabilidade das causas básicas de óbito por câncer por meio do relacionamento probabilístico entre Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade (SIM) e Registro de Câncer de Base Populacional (RCBP) de Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil, entre 2000 e 2005. Foi utilizado o RecLink III para o relacionamento e a confiabilidade foi avaliada pela utilização do coeficiente Kappa de Cohen e o ajustado por prevalência e viés discórdia marginal (prevalence- adjusted and bias-ajusted kappa – PABAK). Foram identificados 2.874 indivíduos no relacionamento para análise da confiabilidade. O kappa bruto variou de 0,336 a 0,846 e o ajustado por prevalência de 0,810 a 0,990 para os 14 grupos de neoplasias. Para os 35 principais cânceres, 12 (34,3%) deles apresentaram valores de kappa bruto abaixo de 0,600 e PABAK de 0,981. Entre as principais neoplasias comuns entre os sexos, a concordância bruta variou em 0,672 e 0,790; a ajustada entre 0,894 e 0,961. Foram reclassificadas 67% de câncer de localização mal definida no SIM com as informações do RCBP. Este estudo mostrou-se útil para a qualificação das estimativas de mortalidade por câncer em áreas cobertas por RCBP.

Objetivo: Descrever a prevalência de indicadores do tabagismo entre escolares brasileiros segundo características sociodemográficas em 2019 e comparar as prevalências entre 2015 e 2019. Métodos: Utilizaram-se dados da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde do Escolar de 2015 e 2019. Foram analisados os indicadores referentes ao uso do tabaco, que foram comparados entre as edições de 2015 e 2019. Foram calculadas as prevalências e os respectivos intervalos de confiança de 95% (IC95%) para a população total e segundo sexo, faixa etária e tipo de escola. Resultados: Dos escolares, 22,6% (IC95% 21,7–23,4) já experimentaram cigarro alguma vez, porcentagem mais elevada entre os de 16 a 17 anos de idade (32,6%; IC95% 31,4–33,8) e no sexo masculino (35,0%; IC95% 33,6–36,4). A experimentação de narguilé, cigarro eletrônico e outros produtos do tabaco também se mostra elevada, com 26,9% (IC95% 26,0–27,8), 16,8% (IC95% 16,2–17,4) e 9,3% (IC95% 8,8–9,8), respectivamente, sendo mais alta entre os escolares do sexo masculino de 16 a 17 anos. Destaca-se que não houve mudanças nos indicadores “experimentação do cigarro”, “fumar pela primeira vez antes dos 13 anos”, “fumar nos 30 dias anteriores à pesquisa” e “ter ao menos um dos pais fumantes” entre os anos indicados. Conclusão: Embora os indicadores de tabaco fumado estejam estáveis entre 2015 e 2019, destacam-se as elevadas prevalências de experimentação de produtos como narguilé e cigarro eletrônico, que chamam a atenção para a necessidade de novas medidas regulatórias.