چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background: Global studies on asthma point to socioeconomic status as one of the main variables in
terms of prevalence and disease severity in various parts of the world. Social factors related to community
violence have been linked to higher incidence of asthma in the current studies. This study investigates
the relationship between indicators of both community violence and development and
hospital admissions due to asthma.
Methods: This was an analytical ecological study of multiple groups, using public databases with information
up until 2006. All Brazilian municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants were considered
as units of analysis. The main index used as socioeconomic indicator was the FIRJAN Index of
Municipal Development (FIMD). The Index of Youth Vulnerability to Violence (IYVV) was used as indicators
of community violence. The rate of admissions due to asthma was used as the outcome. Pearson's
correlation was used for multivariate analyses. The coefficient of determination (R2) was calculated
and the simple linear regression model adjusted for significant correlations.
Results: There was an inverse correlation between asthma admissions and FIMD (r ¼ 0.354, p < 0.001),
with statistical significance for all dimensions of the index. Admissions due to asthma were associated
with the IYVV (r ¼ 0.240, p < 0.001) and its component related to school attendance and employment
(r ¼ 0.315, p < 0.001), homicides (r ¼ 0.112, p ¼ 0.034), and poverty (r ¼ 0.303, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: There was a direct correlation between indicators of violence and rates of admission due
asthma, and an inverse correlation with indicators of development. These results suggest that social
detriment can act as a risk factor for hospital admissions due to asthma.