Inequalities on mortality due to acute respiratory infection in children: A Colombian analysis

Introduction: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are a leading public health issue worldwide. Objective: To explore the inequalities in ARI mortality rates in under-5, according to socioeconomic characteristics. Materials and methods: We conducted an ecological analysis to study inequalities at muni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomédica
Main Authors: Nelson Jose Alvis-Zakzuk, Carlos Castañeda-Orjuela, Diana Patricia Díaz, Liliana Castillo, Karol Patricia Cotes, Pablo Chaparro, Ángel José Paternina-Caicedo, Nelson Rafael Alvis-Guzmán, Fernando Pío De la Hoz
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Published: Instituto Nacional de Salud 2018
Subjects:
Infant mortality
respiratory tract infections
healthcare disparities
socioeconomic factors
poverty
child
Colombia
Medicine
R
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Arctic
Ari
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v38i4.4062
https://doaj.org/article/af51e2ee2e3b47979f580ea5d4efedb0
Description
Summary:Introduction: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are a leading public health issue worldwide. Objective: To explore the inequalities in ARI mortality rates in under-5, according to socioeconomic characteristics. Materials and methods: We conducted an ecological analysis to study inequalities at municipal level due to ARI mortality in children under 5 years. The data were obtained from official death records of the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística. The analysis of inequalities in the under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) included: 1) Classification of the population in different socio-economic strata, and 2) measurement of the degree of inequality. We used the ARI-U5MR as an outcome measurement. The mortality rates were estimated at national and municipal levels for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2013. Rate ratios, rates differences, and concentration curves were calculated to observe the inequalities. Results: A total of 18,012 children under 5 years died by ARI in Colombia from 2000 to 2013. ARIU5MR was greater in boys than in girls. During this period, an increase in the infant mortality relative gap in both boys and girls was observed. In 2013, the U5MR evidenced that for boys from municipalities with the highest poverty had a 1.6-fold risk to die than those in municipalities with the lowest poverty (low tercile). In girls, the ARI-U5MR for 2005 and 2013 in the poorest tercile was 1.5 and 2 times greater than in the first tercile, respectively. Conclusion: Colombian inequalities in the ARI mortality rate among the poorest municipalities compared to the richest ones continue to be a major challenge in public health.

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