Authors:
Mariana Oliveira
1
;
2
;
Alberto Freitas
1
;
2
;
Ana Cláudia Teodoro
3
;
4
and
Hernâni Gonçalves
1
;
2
Affiliations:
1
Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS@RISE), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, s/n 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
;
2
Department of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa s/n, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
;
3
Department of Geosciences, Environment and Land Planning, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
;
4
Earth Sciences Institute (ICT), Pole of the FCUP, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Neurodegenerative Diseases, Spatial Epidemiology, Hospitalization Rates.
Abstract:
Neurodegenerative diseases, usually arising from the death of nervous system cells, are a rising concern in the worlds’ population increasing life expectancy. More precisely, the Portuguese population, along with that of other developed countries, is ageing at a fast rate. The understanding of such diseases’ patterns is of utmost relevance to help manage the burden it represents in the health system. In this retrospective study, we analysed over 500 thousand hospitalizations with discharges between 2000 and 2016. We computed age-standardized hospitalization rates for each neurodegenerative disease. The most prevalent disease in our sample was Dementia with 43.4% of cases, and the least prevalent was Basal with only 0.2% of cases. The spatial analysis shows that Santarém and Portalegre (neighbour) districts in central Portugal, have the highest rates. The increase in hospitalization rates over the study period is also clear when looking at the spatio-temporal analysis. Although limite
d by the usage of secondary health data, this study represents a background for other studies on the field of neurodegenerative diseases, presenting with relevant insight into the spatio-temporal patterns of each and every neurodegenerative disease in Portugal at the moment.
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