Association between primary care coverage and breast cancer mortality in Brazil.

Francisco Winter dos Santos Figueiredo,Jean Henri Maselli Schoueri,Fernando Adami,Caio Luisi,Tábata Cristina do Carmo Almeida,Tomi F. Akinyemiju

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0200125

Francisco Winter dos Santos Figueiredo, Jean Henri Maselli Schoueri + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200125

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Aug 2, 2018
Citations: 17	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina do ABC

Abstract

Breast cancer early detection is the major strategy for mortality rates reduction. In Brazil, Primary Health Care is an important strategy for public health promotion. To analyse the association between breast cancer mortality and primary health care indicators in Brazilian municipalities, data on breast cancer mortality and primary healthcare coverage of the 5,700 Brazilian municipalities were collected from the Department of Informatics of the Brazilian Unified Health System. We collected data on the deaths of women living in Brazil in 2010 with breast cancer. Breast cancer mortality was calculated by 100,000 women and age-standardised from the World Health Organisation population. We studied the coverage of primary health care, family health team and community health agents. We found that increase of both primary care indexes was related to increasing of the breast cancer mortality. Additionally, improving the scholarly and reducing the income inequality was related to reducing the breast cancer mortality. Strategies to improve the quality of primary care, reduce the income inequality and improve elementary scholarly should be taken into account in the development of public policies in the Brazilian municipalities to reduce breast cancer in Brazilian municipalities.

Highlights

Overall, one-third of all breast cancer cases worldwide could have been cured if they had been diagnosed early
We studied the coverage of primary health care, family health team and community health agents
Strategies to improve the quality of primary care, reduce the income inequality and improve elementary scholarly should be taken into account in the development of public policies in the Brazilian municipalities to reduce breast cancer in Brazilian municipalities

Summary

Introduction

One-third of all breast cancer cases worldwide could have been cured if they had been diagnosed early. The main international strategies to reduce breast cancer mortality rates are the reduction of inequalities in health services and the early diagnosis of cases[2]. For this to occur, there is a need to develop policies to bring the health service closer to the population, increase the number of tools available for early diagnosis (e.g. number of mammographs) and improve the coverage of mammographic screening in the target population[3]. Diagnosis of breast cancer is determined by the triad: i) knowledge of the population regarding signs and symptoms; ii) professional qualification for diagnosis; and iii) the capacity of the health system to offer services to confirm the diagnosis and support the diagnosed cases [4].

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