Temporal trend of COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates and their relationship with socioeconomic indicators in the state of Piauí, Brazil: an ecological study, 2020-2021. / Tendência temporal das taxas de incidência e de mortalidade por COVID-19 e sua relação com indicadores socioeconômicos no Piauí: estudo ecológico, 2020-2021.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the temporal trend of COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates and their relationship with socioeconomic indicators. METHODS: This was an ecological time series study of COVID-19 cases/deaths in municipalities in Piauí, Brazil, between March, 2020 and May, 2021. Prais-Winsten linear regression model and Spearman's correlation test were used. RESULTS: There were 271,228 cases and 5,888 deaths in the period. There was a rising trend in COVID-19 incidence rate, while the mortality trend was stable. The spatio-temporal analyses showed higher incidence/mortality in the second and fifth quarters of the period. There was no statistically significant correlation between COVID-19 and the Social Vulnerability Index (IVS). Significant correlations between the Municipal Human Development Index (IDHM) and COVID-19 incidence (p-value < 0.001) and mortality rates (p-value < 0.001) were found. CONCLUSION: There was a rising trend in COVID-19 incidence and stability in COVID-19 mortality. Correlation between the MHDI and these two indicators was moderate and weak, respectively, demanding public service management decisions aimed at improving the population's quality of life.

Epidemiological aspects of Chagas disease in the state of Piauí (Northeast Brazil) in the period 2010-2019.

Chagas disease (ChD), caused by the hemoflagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is an important morbidity that affects approximately six million people in the American continent. T. cruzi parasites are mainly transmitted to human by the infected feces of blood-sucking triatomine insects. The persistent disease is endemic in many regions of South America, mostly affecting residents of rural areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate epidemiological aspects of ChD in the state of Pi-auí located in northeastern Brazil. This is an analytical cross-sectional study carried out from the collection of data of the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN, in Portuguese, Sistema de Informações de Agravos de Notificação) of suspected and confirmed cases of acute ChD in the state of Piauí, in the period 2010-2019. Associations between T. cruzi positivity and the study variables were determined by the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test and were raised as prevalence ratios (PR) with 95% confidence interval. According to this survey, 517 suspected cases of acute ChD were reported in Piauí, with 70 cases (13.5%) confirmed. In 88.5% of confirmed cases, confirmation occurred by laboratory diagnosis. Most of the confirmed cases occurred in municipalities located in the semiarid region, with the municipality of São João do Piauí presenting the highest number of cases. Regarding sociodemographic data, females represent 55.7% of cases, people over 50 years of age (55.7%), being three cases in people up to 18 years of age, and less than 8 years of schooling (67.1%). 77.9% of confirmed cases had vector transmission as the probable form of infection. The data available in this study conclude that vectorial transmission of ChD in the state of Piauí remains active. This fact is corroborated by the number of notified and confirmed cases of acute ChD, requiring housing improvement programs and more effective epidemiological surveillance to control the transmission of the disease in the state.

Evolution of indicators and service capacity at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in Northeast Brazil, 2020. / Evolução de indicadores e capacidade de atendimento no início da epidemia de COVID-19 no Nordeste do Brasil, 2020.

OBJECTIVE: to describe the evolution of indicators and capacity for health care in the initial phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Northeast region of Brazil. METHODS: this was a descriptive study based on COVID-19 case epidemiological bulletins released by the Ministry of Health up until April 1st, 2020. The incidence rate, lethality and number of cumulative daily cases were calculated. RESULTS: 1,005 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified, most of them in Ceará and Bahia states. The incidence rate was 1.8/100,000 inhabitants and lethality was 2.7%. Ceará was the state with the highest number of cases, with 29.6 new cases per day on average. Average intensive care bed availability in the Northeast region (1.04/10,000 inhab.) was below the national average (2.8/10,000 inhab.). CONCLUSION: the indicators suggest that COVID-19 impact is heterogeneous and signal the challenges for health systems in the Northeast Region.