Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil
Brazil is a continental country with significant socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities. It is important to understand how these differences are reflected in health care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the potential impacts of the reduced number Transcranial Doppler Ultrasou...
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Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-11-01
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Series: | Heliyon |
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Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023091685 |
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author | Rui Leandro Santos Waldecy Rodrigues David Prata Daniela Mascarenhas de Queiroz Trevisan Paulo Henrique de Souza Bermejo Marina Figueiredo Moreira |
author_facet | Rui Leandro Santos Waldecy Rodrigues David Prata Daniela Mascarenhas de Queiroz Trevisan Paulo Henrique de Souza Bermejo Marina Figueiredo Moreira |
author_sort | Rui Leandro Santos |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Brazil is a continental country with significant socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities. It is important to understand how these differences are reflected in health care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the potential impacts of the reduced number Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (TCD) tests performed in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its reflections according to region and race/color for patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). This study performed data queries from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, literature research, and quantitative analysis using descriptive statistical analysis. We found evidence for a decrease in the number of TCD tests performed during the pandemic (−83 %) relative to the same non-pandemic period, and disparities in tests given in five regions in Brazil. Our data show, that in absolute numbers, most people with SCD are brown, but the highest prevalence of cases was among blacks. We also found evidence for racial discrimination when performing TCD test, which leads us to believe that the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) may be susceptible to racism when treating this disease. The implications of these findings serve as a warning to other countries with high indices of mixed ancestry in formulating health care policies for patients with SCD. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:17:59Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-9582ba6c278241279098cfbb7fcc94c1 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2405-8440 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:17:59Z |
publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | Article |
series | Heliyon |
spelling | doaj.art-9582ba6c278241279098cfbb7fcc94c12023-12-02T07:04:46ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402023-11-01911e21960Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in BrazilRui Leandro Santos0Waldecy Rodrigues1David Prata2Daniela Mascarenhas de Queiroz Trevisan3Paulo Henrique de Souza Bermejo4Marina Figueiredo Moreira5Program of Computational Modelling, Federal University of Tocantins. Palmas, TO, Brazil; Corresponding author.Program of Computational Modelling, Federal University of Tocantins. Palmas, TO, BrazilProgram of Computational Modelling, Federal University of Tocantins. Palmas, TO, BrazilProgram of Computational Modelling, Federal University of Tocantins. Palmas, TO, BrazilSchool of Economics, Business Administration, Accounting and Information Science, University of Brasilia, BrazilSchool of Economics, Business Administration, Accounting and Information Science, University of Brasilia, BrazilBrazil is a continental country with significant socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities. It is important to understand how these differences are reflected in health care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the potential impacts of the reduced number Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (TCD) tests performed in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its reflections according to region and race/color for patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). This study performed data queries from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, literature research, and quantitative analysis using descriptive statistical analysis. We found evidence for a decrease in the number of TCD tests performed during the pandemic (−83 %) relative to the same non-pandemic period, and disparities in tests given in five regions in Brazil. Our data show, that in absolute numbers, most people with SCD are brown, but the highest prevalence of cases was among blacks. We also found evidence for racial discrimination when performing TCD test, which leads us to believe that the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) may be susceptible to racism when treating this disease. The implications of these findings serve as a warning to other countries with high indices of mixed ancestry in formulating health care policies for patients with SCD.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023091685Sickle cell diseaseCOVID-19RacismTranscranial Doppler |
spellingShingle | Rui Leandro Santos Waldecy Rodrigues David Prata Daniela Mascarenhas de Queiroz Trevisan Paulo Henrique de Souza Bermejo Marina Figueiredo Moreira Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil Heliyon Sickle cell disease COVID-19 Racism Transcranial Doppler |
title | Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil |
title_full | Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil |
title_fullStr | Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil |
title_full_unstemmed | Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil |
title_short | Covid-19 impacts: Ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in Brazil |
title_sort | covid 19 impacts ethnic and regional inequalities in sickle cell disease patient care in brazil |
topic | Sickle cell disease COVID-19 Racism Transcranial Doppler |
url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023091685 |
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