Factors associated with severe forms and deaths from schistosomiasis and application of probabilistic linkage in databases, state of Pernambuco, Brazil, 2007–2017

OBJECTIVE: To verify the agreement of data on severe forms and deaths from schistosomiasis recorded in the Brazilian Notifiable Diseases Information System and the Mortality Information System, sociodemographic variables with the occurrence of severe forms and deaths, and the temporal trend of the disease in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. METHODS: This is an ecological, descriptive, time series study with data on severe forms and deaths from schistosomiasis in Pernambuco, from 2007 to 2017. For the linkage between databases, a function was developed in python programming language, using the Soundex method. To identify sociodemographic and health factors that correlated with the dependent variables, Pearson’s correlation test was applied. For trend analysis, linear regression was applied. RESULTS: We identified 9,085 severe cases, 1,956 deaths, and 186 cases in the linkage. The correlation between the average positivity rate with the general water supply and waste collection was 0.22 and 0.26 respectively. We verified a correlation of the average cumulative mortality rate with water supply by well or spring (r=0.27), water supply by the general network (r=0.3), waste collection (r=0.42), and road urbanization (r=0.29). We found 3,153 severe forms in 2007 with a decrease trend and 205 deaths in 2010, without a trend pattern. CONCLUSION: There is a need for greater investments in disease control and in the quality of information, especially in the record of severe forms, considering that, due to the pathophysiology of the disease, death only occurs when the individual develops the chronic form, and its notification on the Notifiable Diseases Information System is imperative.