Schistosoma mansoni in Brazil in 2015: retrieval of deaths and characteristics of patients that evolved to death

Abstract

Introduction: Schistosomiasis is a disease endemic in Brazil. We analyzed the death records from the Brazilian Mortality Information System with the aim of retrieving deaths due to schistosomiasis and describing the patients that evolved to death in Brazil in the year of 2015. Methods: We evaluated the death certificates for retrieving basic causes due to schistosomiasis, estimated the mortality rate and described the sociodemographic characteristics of patients. Result: To retrieve the basic cause, we analyzed 150 death certificates and we found 39 (26%). Of the 406 studied deaths, 111 (27.3%) occurred in people aged between 60 and 69 and 101 (24.9%) between 70 and 79. Regarding the educational level, 196 (62.4%) had not concluded the elementary school and 85 (27.1%) had never studied. As to race/skin color, 248 deaths (65.1%) occurred in black or pardo. Pernambuco registered more deaths, with 119 (29.3%). Alagoas was the state presenting the highest mortality rate, with 1.62/100,000 residents. As immediate causes of death, most of them, 118 (29.1%), occurred by hypovolemic shock. Conclusions: Deaths were more frequent in older ages, consistent with the disease chronic evolution, in people with lower educational level, and in subjects that reported themselves as black or pardo.