Pneumonia and climate elements: comparative analysis between Balneário Camboriú and Erechim

Abstract

Respiratory diseases, including pneumonia, account for many of the diseases in today's society. Many authors over time have shown the influence of climatic elements on population health. In this sense, the objective of this article is to investigate the impact of climatic elements on the records of daily hospital admissions for pneumonia in Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, and Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul, individually and comparatively. Through graphical and statistical analyzes, based on the Spearman’s correlation (α = 5%), it was concluded that the decreasing air temperature (cooling) has a statistically significant impact on the hospitalization rate, pointing out higher peaks for pneumonia registries in winter, as well as in the transition seasons (spring and autumn). In Erechim occurred higher hospitalization records, proportionally, when compared to the locality of Santa Catarina. These results are justified by the more evident records of lower temperatures in Erechim. In addition, it is suggested that the lower socioeconomic conditions of the sul-rio-grandense location, as compared to the catarinense, have a more evident impact on the disease.

Keywords: Climate and health; Health geography; Correlations; Respiratory doença.