Methods: The number of deaths due to DCS were obtained from the Mortality Information System (SIM). Populational estimates for RP-SP -taking gender, age group, and calendar years into account -were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Specific mortality rates were calculated on yearly basis according to gender and age group in 10-year intervals starting at 30 years of age. The trend analysis was conducted through polynomial regression models for time series. Significance level was ≤ 0.05.Results: Specific mortality rates due to DCS increased with age both among males and females, being higher among males in the 40 to 49-year-old range. After that, figures were comparable, although at 80-year-old age groups data for females showed to be higher than that for males in some years of the series. Along the study period, significant reduction was observed for mortality rates among both males and females, and for all age ranges from those causes (p<0.001). Brazil is a limiting component for the formulation of ecologic hypotheses to explain the decline.
Conclusions: Mortality rate pattern due to DCS in RP-In a continental size country as Brazil, regional differences in goods and services distribution as well as health promotion programs interfere in that dynamics. Therefore, not all regions go through the 4th stage of the Epidemiologic Transition 9 -when the most marked characteristic is the mortality rates decline due to DCS.In a study conducted by Souza et al. 10 in the period between 1979 and 1996, the authors observed that mortality rates due to DCS showed different trends in the five geographic macro-regions in Brazil. Results pointed towards a decline trend as of 30 years of age in the Southern, Southeastern and Northern Regions, although the opposite trend was observed for the Northeastern and Central-Western Regions.Having taken into account the regional differences in Brazil, the present study had the objective of identifying mortality trends due to DCS in Ribeirão Preto, SP, based on the time series corresponding to the time period between 1980 and 2004.
Materials and methodsStudy Design -The study followed a time series ecological design 11 , and covered the period between 1980 and 2004.