Sociodemographic profile of deaths from schistosomiasis, Brazil, 2017 to 2022

Introduction: Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by the trematode helminth Schistosoma mansoni. It is an endemic disease in areas where there are water collections with transmitting molluscs and is associated with ecological, biological, socioeconomic and cultural factors of a society that, interconnected, influence the development cycle and control of the disease (Melo, 2019). Objective: To describe the sociodemographic profile of deaths from schistosomiasis, in Brazil, from 2017 to 2022. Method: Descriptive study using microdata from records of deaths due to schistosomiasis, for the entire Brazilian territory, from 2017 to 2022. All Death Certificate (DO) records that contained information on the underlying cause of death were included. The data were obtained from the Mortality Information System (SIM), from the DOs, made available by the Information Technology Department of the Unified Health System, accessible at: (https://datasus.saude.gov.br/). To select the outcome, all records in field 40 of the DO were considered, filled with codes B65, referring to schistosomiasis, according to Chapter I – Some Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, according to ICD-10. Population data were obtained through the Demographic Census, available in the IBGE Automatic Recovery System (SIDRA), table 3584, (https://sidra.ibge.gov.br/Table/3584). To characterize the profile of deaths from schistosomiasis, information on sex (male/female), age group (≤29 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 69 years and ≥70 years) was analyzed), race/color (white, brown, black, yellow and indigenous), education in years of study (≤3 years, 4 to 7 years, 8 to 11 years and ≥12 years), macro-regions of Brazil (north, northeast, midwest, southeast and south). The database was built in the R 4.4.1 software and analyzed using descriptive statistics with absolute numbers and relative frequencies. Project not submitted to the Research Ethics Committee because it is public domain data. Results: In the period from 2017 to 2022, in Brazil, 8,912,922 deaths were registered in the SIM. Of these, 2,843 had schistosomiasis as the underlying cause of death. Men represented (51.2%) of the sample, (44.0%) were ≥70 years old, mixed race/color (57.3%) and had ≤ 3 years of education (27.2%). Regarding geographic distribution, the Northeast and Southeast macro-regions recorded, respectively, 64.8% and 32.5% of deaths. Final considerations: Between 2017 and 2022, 2,843 deaths from schistosomiasis were recorded in the Brazilian population. Of this total, 64.8% occurred in the Northeast macro-region. The profile corresponds to brown people, with low education and an age group of ≥70 years. The health vulnerability of the population has an important relationship with the sociodemographic profile. Thus, there is a need for a better understanding of the determinants that may be related to deaths.