Hospitalizations due to stroke and their relationship with Chagas disease: a population-based analytical study using...

To assess whether hospitalizations due to stroke were associated with Chagas disease and the Chagas disease vulnerability index in the state of Minas Gerais.

This was a population-based analytical observational study. Data were obtained from the Hospital Information System of the Brazilian National Health System in Minas Gerais for the year 2022. Hospitalization records were selected based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, in which stroke was recorded as the primary cause and Chagas disease/sentinels as the secondary cause. Stroke-related hospitalization rates were estimated, and a correlation analysis was conducted between the Chagas disease vulnerability index and stroke hospitalization prevalence in Minas Gerais and its health macro-regions.

In 2022, a total of 25,813 hospitalizations due to stroke as the primary cause were recorded, of which only 18 included Chagas disease/sentinels as the secondary cause, most of them in the Central macro-region (n=10). The correlation between stroke-related hospitalizations and the Chagas disease vulnerability index was weak (r=0.145) and not statistically significant, despite the overlap of macro-regions with higher stroke-related hospitalization rates and higher Chagas disease vulnerability index scores (Jequitinhonha Valley and North).

Although there was a high number of stroke-related hospitalizations in the Brazilian National Health System in Minas Gerais, only 18 of these records were associated with Chagas disease/sentinels, which may suggest underreporting of Chagas disease and uncertainty regarding the quality of such records.