Persistence of Schistosomiasis-Related Morbidity in Northeast Brazil: An Integrated Spatio-Temporal Analysis

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the temporal trend and spatial patterns of schistosomiasis-related morbidity in Northeast Brazil, 2001–2017. Methods: Ecological study, of time series and spatial analysis, based on case notifications and hospital admission data, as provided by the Ministry of Health. Results: Of a total of 15,574,392 parasitological stool examinations, 941,961 (6.0%) were positive, mainly on the coastline of Pernambuco, Alagoas and Sergipe states. There was a reduction from 7.4% (2002) to 3.9% (2017) of positive samples and in the temporal trend of the detection rate (APC—11.6*; Confidence Interval 95%—13.9 to −9.1). There was a total of 5879 hospital admissions, with 40.4% in Pernambuco state. The hospitalization rate reduced from 0.82 (2001) to 0.02 (2017) per 100,000 inhabitants. Conclusion: Despite the reduction in case detection and hospitalizations, the persistence of focal areas of the disease in coastal areas is recognized. This reduction may indicate a possible positive impact of control on epidemiological patterns, but also operational issues related to access to healthcare and the development of surveillance and control actions in the Unified Health System.

Intestinal schistosomiasis‐related mortality in Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2000–2019: Temporal trends and spatial patterns for determining priority areas

“…Over time, a reduction of priority areas was registered in the Metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, together with a shift of high-priority areas towards the Rio Doce Valley region-a dynamic that moved the cluster of high risk to the north-eastern parts of the state. The distribution of schistosomiasis is not homogenous and human infections and mortality also depend on socio-economic factors, as demonstrated in other studies [21][22][23]36]. As such, the mesoregions classified as high-priority areas for schistosomiasis control also presented the lowest index for human development (medium or low) [15].…”

“…Furthermore, demographic heterogeneity affects mortality rates, with its accuracy being inversely proportional to the size of the population at risk. Statistical smoothing techniques, such as the Bayesian method used in the present study, take into account neighbouring municipalities to generate estimates of mortality rates; these methods can be used to overcome problems of population fluctuation [21,25,36].…”

Mining Public Opinions on COVID-19 Vaccination: A Temporal Analysis to Support Combating Misinformation

“…Temporal analysis is an instrument to support epidemiologic analysis, considering the context of “infodemic”, literally a large amount of misinformation harming something by its power of influence over people [ 60 ], such as what occurred in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Brazil. An interesting complement to this kind of analysis is the use of geographic information, performing spatio-temporal analysis such as that described by da Silva et al [ 61 ] and Cunha et al [ 62 ], developed in Brazil in epidemiological and vaccinal contexts, respectively.…”

High schistosomiasis-related mortality in Northeast Brazil: trends and spatial patterns

“…In the country, schistosomiasis is responsible for the second-highest burden of disability-adjusted life years among NTDs, behind Chagas disease, which is most common in the midwest, southeast, and northeast regions 10 . The northeast region of Brazil has an overall positivity rate of 6% for schistosomiasis, with higher rates in the states of Alagoas and Sergipe 12 .…”