Spatial pattern of the distribution of dengue incidence and its relation to variable income in the City of Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil

Abstract

The infection caused by Dengue virus is one of the main public health problems in the world, including Brazil, which is geographically located in a tropical area recognized as prevalent area of disease incidence. Besides the location of the region, there are many other conditioning and determining factors for this infection, as socioeconomic aspects and microclimate local variations. This study aimed to describe the distribution of incidence rates of dengue and the socioeconomic variable (per capita income), comprising urban neighborhoods of the City of Manaus, Amazonas State, from 2000 to 2010. It was used Quantum GIS software in the production of thematic maps in order to describe the distribution of variables investigated in the process and Terraview, version 4.2.1, to calculate the empirical Bayesian estimator. By comparing the maps with the incidence of income, it was not possible to verify proportional relationship; neighborhoods with greater than three minimum wages and even higher or equal to five have reported varied incidence rates as much as in the lowest-income neighborhoods; the same result was found when comparing the fees generated by the empirical Bayesian estimator. It was concluded that the distribution of dengue incidence in the urban area of Manaus occurred heterogeneously and without influence of per capita income; and the resulting rates from the estimator are more reliable concerning influential factors such as random fluctuation of data.