Epidemiological profile of early‐onset Alzheimer’s mortality in Brazil from 2010 to 2019

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundEarly‐onset Alzheimer disease (EOAD) is not just late‐onset AD (LOAD) at a younger age; there are substantial differences between these 2 categories of AD (Mendez, 2017). Therefore, the first step is to understand its population context. In this way, we sought in this study to determine the socio‐epidemiological aspects of Early‐onset Alzheimer disease (EOAD) mortality in Brazil. This is the first study that analyzes the epidemiology of EOAD in Brazilian territory.MethodData from the Ministry of Health’s Mortality Information System (SIM) were analyzed for the epidemiological characterization of deaths from Alzheimer’s (ICD‐10 code G30.0) between 2010 and 2019, considering the variables available on the death certificates. EOAD mortality was considered as death from Alzheimer’s in patients younger than 60 years of age. The sociodemographic variables chosen were sex, race/color, marital status, education and region of the country.ResultBetween 2010 and 2019, SIM recorded 804 cases of EOAD. Of these, 50.62% were male and 49.37% were female. As for race, 63.6% were white, 26.6% brown, 4.97% black, 0.62% yellow, and in 4.10% this information was ignored on the death certificate. It was found that 45% were married, 25% single, 10.9% widowed, 8.2% divorced, 2.2% other and 8.45% were ignored. The level of education was 1 to 3 years in 21.3%, 21% for 4 to 7 years, 15.9% for 8 to 11 years, 7.8% for more than 12 years, 12.4% none and in 21.39% we did not obtain this data. It was also observed 48.8% cases in the Southeast, 21.2% in the South, 20.1% in the Northeast, 6.84% in the Midwest and 2.8% in the North.ConclusionThe prevalence of early Alzheimer’s mortality was higher in male, white, married patients, from the Southeast region, with 1 to 3 years of schooling. The epidemiological profile is a fundamental part for the elaboration of programs of preventive actions and health promotion. Strengths of this study include the production of information on mortality from early Alzheimer’s disease in Brazil, in a context of lack of research of this type in the country.