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Abstract
Background It has been suggested that cardiovascular disease exhibits a ‘social cross-over’, from greater risk in higher socioeconomic groups to lower socioeconomic groups, on economic development, but robust evidence is lacking. We used standardised data to compare the social inequalities in cardiovascular mortality across states at varying levels of economic development in Brazil.
Methods We used national census and mortality data from 2010. We used age-adjusted multilevel Poisson regression to estimate the association between educational status and cardiovascular mortality by state-level economic development (assessed by quintiles of Human Development Index).
Results In 2010, there were 185 383 cardiovascular deaths among 62.5 million adults whose data were analysed. The age-adjusted cardiovascular mortality rate ratio for women with <8 years of education (compared with 8+ years) was 3.75 (95% CI 3.29 to 4.28) in the least developed one-fifth of states and 2.84 (95% CI 2.75 to 2.92) in the most developed one-fifth of states (p value for linear trend=0.002). Among men, corresponding rate ratios were 2.53 (95% CI 2.32 to 2.77) and 2.26 (95% CI 2.20 to 2.31), respectively (p value=0.258). Associations were similar across subtypes of cardiovascular disease (ischaemic heart disease and stroke) and robust to the size of geographical unit used for analysis.
Conclusions Our results do not support a ‘social crossover’ in cardiovascular mortality on economic development. Our analyses, based on a large standardised dataset from a country that is currently experiencing economic transition, provide strong evidence that low socioeconomic groups experience the highest risk of cardiovascular disease, irrespective of the stage of national economic development.
- coronary artery disease
- epidemiology
- global health
- stroke
- cardiac risk factors and prevention
Data availability statement
Data used in this study are made available online by the Brazilian Government. Mortality data were obtained from Ministry of Health’s DATASUS website (http://www2.datasus.gov.br/DATASUS/), census data for denominators were obtained from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística website (https://www.ibge.gov.br/) and Human Development Index data were obtained from the Atlas do Desenvolvimento Humano no Brasil website (http://atlasbrasil.org.br/).
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Data availability statement
Data used in this study are made available online by the Brazilian Government. Mortality data were obtained from Ministry of Health’s DATASUS website (http://www2.datasus.gov.br/DATASUS/), census data for denominators were obtained from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística website (https://www.ibge.gov.br/) and Human Development Index data were obtained from the Atlas do Desenvolvimento Humano no Brasil website (http://atlasbrasil.org.br/).
Footnotes
Contributors PACM and SK conceived the study. PACM conducted data management and analyses, and wrote the first draft. EW provided statistical support. SL, EW, MLB and SK reviewed and commented on all drafts of the manuscript.
Funding This work was funded by Medical Research Council UK (grant number: MR/N013638/1) through a studentship to PACM.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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