Antivenom access impacts severity of Brazilian snakebite envenoming: A geographic information system analysis.

BACKGROUND: Snakebite envenoming (SBE) is a neglected tropical disease capable of causing both significant disability and death. The burden of SBE is especially high in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to perform a geospatial analysis evaluating the association of sociodemographics and access to care indicators on moderate and severe cases of SBE in Brazil. METHODS: We conducted an ecological, cross-sectional study of SBE in Brazil from 2014 to 2019 using the open access National System Identification of Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) database. We then collected a set of indicators from the Brazil Census of 2010 and performed a Principal Component Analysis to create variables related to health, economics, occupation, education, infrastructure, and access to care. Next, a descriptive and exploratory spatial analysis was conducted to evaluate the geospatial association of moderate and severe events. These variables related to events were evaluated using Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression. T-values were plotted in choropleth maps and considered statistically significant when values were <-1.96 or >+1.96. RESULTS: We found that the North region had the highest number of SBE cases by population (47.83/100,000), death rates (0.18/100,000), moderate and severe rates (22.96/100,000), and proportion of cases that took more than three hours to reach healthcare assistance (44.11%). The Northeast and Midwest had the next poorest indicators. Life expectancy, young population structure, inequality, electricity, occupation, and more than three hours to reach healthcare were positively associated with greater cases of moderate and severe events, while income, illiteracy, sanitation, and access to care were negatively associated. The remaining indicators showed a positive association in some areas of the country and a negative association in other areas. CONCLUSION: Regional disparities in SBE incidence and rates of poor outcomes exist in Brazil, with the North region disproportionately affected. Multiple indicators were associated with rates of moderate and severe events, such as sociodemographic and health care indicators. Any approach to improving snakebite care must work to ensure the timeliness of antivenom administration.

The Impact of Socioeconomic Factors, Coverage and Access to Health on Heart Ischemic Disease Mortality in a Brazilian Southern State: A Geospatial Analysis.

Background: No other disease has killed more than ischemic heart disease (IHD) for the past few years globally. Despite the advances in cardiology, the response time for starting treatment still leads patients to death because of the lack of healthcare coverage and access to referral centers. Objectives: To analyze the spatial disparities related to IHD mortality in the Parana state, Brazil. Methods: An ecological study using secondary data from Brazilian Health Informatics Department between 2013-2017 was performed to verify the IHD mortality. An spatial analysis was performed using the Global Moran and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) to verify the spatial dependency of IHD mortality. Lastly, multivariate spatial regression models were also developed using Ordinary Least Squares and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to identify socioeconomic indicators (aging, income, and illiteracy rates), exam coverage (catheterization, angioplasty, and revascularization rates), and access to health (access index to cardiologists and chemical reperfusion centers) significantly correlated with IHD mortality. The chosen model was based on p < 0.05, highest adjusted R2 and lowest Akaike Information Criterion. Results: A total of 22,920 individuals died from IHD between 2013-2017. The spatial analysis confirmed a positive spatial autocorrelation global between IDH mortality rates (Moran's I: 0.633, p < 0.01). The LISA analysis identified six high-high pattern clusters composed by 66 municipalities (16.5%). GWR presented the best model (Adjusted R2: 0.72) showing that accessibility to cardiologists and chemical reperfusion centers, and revascularization and angioplasty rates differentially affect the IHD mortality rates geographically. Aging and illiteracy rate presented positive correlation with IHD mortality rate, while income ratio presented negative correlation (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Regions of vulnerability were unveiled by the spatial analysis where sociodemographic, exam coverage and accessibility to health variables impacted differently the IHD mortality rates in Paraná state, Brazil. Highlights: The increase in ischemic heart disease mortality rates is related to geographical disparities.The IHD mortality is differentially associated to socioeconomic factors, exam coverage, and access to health.Higher accessibility to chemical reperfusion centers did not necessarily improve patient outcomes in some regions of the state.Clusters of high mortality rate are placed in regions with low amount of cardiologists, income and schooling.