Abstract
Abstract Objective: to analyze the incidence of and mortality caused by COVID-19 in the older population in Brazil and its relationship with contextual variables. Methods: the 22 Brazilian states (including the Federal District) with 50 deaths or more due to COVID-19 by May 25th, 2020 were included. The rates of accumulated incidence, accumulated mortality and accumulated lethality among older adults were considered as dependent variables. Among the contextual variables, the provision of health services and professionals, and demographic, income and development indicators were included. The variables were analyzed in a descriptive and bivariate manner using Spearman’s correlation. Results: the state of Pará had the highest incidence and mortality rate among older adults. The highest accumulated lethality rates among this population were observed in Bahia (56.46%), Rio de Janeiro (48.10%) and Pernambuco (40.76%). There was a significant negative moderate correlation between the accumulated incidence rate and the aging index (rho=-0.662; p=0.001) and the proportion of older adults (rho=-0.659; p=0.002); and between the mortality rate and the aging index (rho=-0.520; p=0.013) and the proportion of older adults (rho=-0.502; p=0.017). The accumulated incidence rate and mortality rate also revealed, respectively, a significant positive correlation with the proportion of black (Afro-Brazilian) and brown (mixed race) skinned people (rho=0.524; p=0.018 and rho=0.558; p=0.007) and with the income ratio (rho=0.665; p=0.0001 and rho=0.683; p<0.001). Conclusions: the Brazilian epidemiological situation shows that the mortality of older adults due to COVID-19 in Brazil is related to demographic and income distribution aspects.
Highlights
Since December 2019, public health authorities around the world have been on alert due to reports of cases of pneumonia with an unknown etiology in China
The present study aimed to describe and analyze the indicators of incidence and mortality from COVID-19 in the older population in Brazil and its relationship with contextual variables
When observing the population characteristics and number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil, the state of São Paulo has the highest number of cases and deaths from COVID-19, with 82,161 cases and 6,163 deaths
Summary
Since December 2019, public health authorities around the world have been on alert due to reports of cases of pneumonia with an unknown etiology in China. The new coronavirus has had an extremely high transmission rate, and by January 30, 7,818 cases of infected people had been reported in 18 countries, with 170 people having already died in China due to COVID-19. COVID-19 cases were growing rapidly worldwide and on March 11, the WHO declared a pandemic, when more than 118,000 cases of the disease were registered in 113 countries, with more than 4,000 deaths[4]. Cases of the disease have shown significant daily growth in the country and, by May 25th, more than 374,000 cases and 23,473 deaths had been registered throughout the country[6]
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