Abstract
Background:Brazil faces some challenges in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, including: the risks for cross-infection (community infection) increase in densely populated areas; low access to health services in areas where the number of beds in intensive care units (ICUs) is scarce and poorly distributed, mainly in states with low population density.Objective:To describe and intercorrelate epidemiology and geographic data from Brazil about the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:The epidemiology and geographic data were correlated with the distribution of ICU beds (public and private health systems) and the number of beneficiaries of private health insurance using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient. The same data were correlated using partial correlation controlled by gross domestic product (GDP) and number of beneficiaries of private health insurance.Findings:Brazil has a large geographical area and diverse demographic and economic aspects. This diversity is also present in the states and the Federal District regarding the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and case fatality rate. The effective management of severe COVID-19 patients requires ICU services, and the scenario was also dissimilar as for ICU beds and ICU beds/10,000 inhabitants for the public (SUS) and private health systems mainly at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. The distribution of ICUs was uneven between public and private services, and most patients rely on SUS, which had the lowest number of ICU beds. In only a few states, the number of ICU beds at SUS was above 1 to 3 by 10,000 inhabitants, which is the number recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).Conclusions:Brazil needed to improve the number of ICU beds units to deal with COVID-19 pandemic, mainly for the SUS showing a late involvement of government and health authorities to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Brazil faces some challenges in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, including: the risks for cross-infection increase in densely populated areas; low access to health services in areas where the number of beds in intensive care units (ICUs) is scarce and poorly distributed, mainly in states with low population density
Data collection The following epidemiology and geographic data markers were evaluated in our study: number of patients with COVID-19; deaths due to COVID-19; case fatality rate (CFR) for COVID-19; gross domestic product (GDP); number of inhabitants; % of the population per area; total area of the states and Federal District; population density; countries with similar number of inhabitants using as parameter each Brazilian state or Federal District (Table 2)
At Brazil, the availability of ICUs beds is unequal between states and Federal District
Summary
In the third week of April 2020, the number of COVID19 cases reached the two million mark around the world. From the first identified case, Brazil has reached a total of 33,682 confirmed cases of the disease and 2,411 deaths, with both marks ranking 11th globally. The 17th July 2020, the number of COVID19 cases reached the 14 million mark around the world causing the death of ~595,166 people. At Brazil, a total of 2,021,834 individuals were affected by COVID-19 and the disease caused the death of 76,997 individuals with both marks ranking 2nd globally. In total, 213 countries and territories as well as two international conveyances worldwide were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; and deaths caused by the disease occurred in 187 countries and territories at this moment [1, 2]. A summary of the COVID-19 pandemic scenario from Brazil by state and Federal District on 17 July 2020 was shown as Table 1
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