Sickle cell disease related mortality in Brazil, 2000-2018

There is a demand to update national mortality trends data related to sickle cell disease (SCD) in Brazil. This study describes causes of death and mortality issues related to SCD using the multiple-cause-of-death methodology.

The annual SCD mortality data was extracted from the public databases of the Mortality Information System by researching deaths in rubric D57 "sickle-cell disorders" of the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision and processed by the Multiple Cause Tabulator.

From 2000 to 2018 in Brazil, a total of 9817 deaths related to SCD occurred during the 19-year period, as the underlying cause in 6924 (70.5%) and as the associated cause of death in 2893 (29.5%). The mean and median ages at death during the entire period were significantly lower for males, 29.4 (±19.6) and 27.5 (15.5-41.5), respectively, than for females, 33.3 (±20.3) and 31.0 (19.5-46.5), respectively. The leading SCD overall associated causes of death were septicemias (32.1%), followed by pneumonias (19.4%) and respiratory failure (18.2%). On certificates with SCD as an associated cause, the underlying causes of death were circulatory system diseases (8.7%), followed, in males, by digestive system and infectious diseases and respiratory system failures, while in females, maternal deaths, included in the chapter on pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, accounting for 4.6% of female deaths, were succeeded by digestive system and infectious diseases.

This study revised mortality data on death rate trends, underlying and associated causes of death, age at death and regional distribution of death in Brazil.