Objectives: to evaluate the specific mortality due to asthma in Brazil (1998-2006) and its correlation with access to health services and social indicators.
Methods: Data were obtained from the National Mortality Database from The Ministry of Health of Brazil. Mortality rates for each state and region were evaluated for the period 1998 to 2006 using linear regression models with gamma distribution and log link function. The correlation between human development index (HDI), the Gini index, GDP per capita and number of hospital beds and mortality rates were performed using the Spearman test.
Results: We recorded 23,758 deaths from asthma from 1998 to 2006. The annual mortality rate per 100.000 inhabitants was 1.68, 1.38, and 1.67, in 1998, 2002 and 2006, respectively (1998-2006 average: 1.51). Comparing only the extremes, 1998 and 2006, mortality rates declined in most economically developed regions of the country: Midwest (-26.11), South (-23.58%), Southeast (-8.83%), and show up rising in the poorest regions in the North (+5.34%) and Northeast (+31.33%). GDP per capita was inversely correlated with asthma mortality rate (rho = -0.378, p = 0.048). In men and women, the asthma mortality rates were respectively, 1.98 and 1.37 in 1998 and 2.01 and 1.30 in 2006. Analysis by age groups, found the coefficients increased with age after adulthood. Individuals over the age of 75 years had the highest rates and greater tendency to increase in the period.
Conclusions: There was an overall stabilization of asthma mortality in Brazil during the study period. However, a trend towards increasing mortality rates were observed in socio-economically disadvantaged regions, where access to health care and medication is still a problem.