Analysis of the mortality trend due to cerebrovascular accident in Brazil in the XXI century.

Background: Although it is the second leading cause of deaths worldwide, the cerebrovascular accident (CVA) has shown a significant reduction in mortality rates in recent decades. Objective: To evaluate the trend of CVA mortality rate in Brazil, in both sexes, older than 30 years old, between 2000 and 2009. Methods: Population data were obtained from the database of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and deaths through the Mortality Information System of the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health, and included codes I60 to I69 according to 10th International Classification of Diseases. We calculated the incidence of deaths/1,000 inhabitants, gross and standardized mortality rates/100,000 inhabitants. The modeling of the trend of rates was performed using regression models. Results: There was an increase in mortality until 2006, followed by a decline until 2009, when the incidence was the lowest. Comparing the years 2000 and 2009, there is a downward trend in standardized mortality rate in both sexes (male = -14.69% and female = -17%) and total (-14.99%), with fluctuations during the period. Between 30 and 49 years in both sexes, there was a trend of continuous and linear decrease in mortality rate, while the other age groups showed a curvilinear function, leading to an effective decrease in values. Conclusion: There was a downward trend in mortality in all age groups and both sexes. The reduction in gross mortality rate was more pronounced in males, while the standardized mortality rate showed a greater reduction in females. (Arq Bras Cardiol 2012;98(6):519-527)