Spatial analysis of tuberculosis cases and association with socioeconomic factors: an experience in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract Background Tuberculosis is an endemic disease in several countries, and its occurrence is related to situations of worse socioeconomic status. Objective To analyze spatial distribution of tuberculosis in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 2006 and the association between occurrence of the disease and the socioeconomic indicators. Method Patient's census tract of residence was georeferenced from the address registered in SINAN. Intensity of cases was estimated using the Kernel estimator (KDE) and association between the socioeconomic variables and existence of at least one case of tuberculosis in the census tracts was evaluated through logistic regression. Results The final database presented 3089 new non-institutionalized cases of tuberculosis. High concentration of cases was identified along the north district, with some points in the south district of the city. Along the west district, a range of points was observed from Magalhães Bastos to Santa Cruz and Sepetiba. Intensity of cases was higher in the most deprived areas. The following variables remained in the final model: percentage of permanent private households whose responsible person had a monthly income of 3-5 minimum wages and percentage of rented households. Conclusion Spatial analysis identified areas of high concentration of cases of tuberculosis coinciding with the most deprived areas. The poor quality of address registration was the main limitation of this study.