Income gaps, doctors, and ncd burden: correlating mortality, hospitalizations, and costs in brazil

Introduction: Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases are a major public health problem in Brazil, with notable social and regional disparities. Objective: examine the relationship between the number of doctors in the Unified Health System and the number of hospitalizations and mortality rates due to Non-Communicable Diseases, and how income inequality might influence such outcomes. Methods: ecological study using secondary data from Brazil’s public health system (2016-2018). Mortality rates were age-standardized based on WHO’s population. All rates were standardized per 100,000 inhabitants, and costs were converted to US dollars. Linear regression was performed using backward elimination strategy. Results: 2,423,251 deaths were recorded, with a total expenditure of US$3.2 billion. Both deaths and costs were higher in men. The Gini index was inversely correlated with total spending (p < 0.05) and hospital admissions for most Non-Communicable Diseases (p < 0.001), except for metabolic diseases. No correlation was found between the Gini index and mortality. Conclusions: Non-Communicable Diseases accounted for over 2 million deaths in adults during 2016-2018, with a greater impact on men. A negative relationship between income inequality and Non-Communicable Diseases outcomes was found, but no significant association with the number of Unified Health System’s doctors was identified.