Domingues Renata Cordeiro, Gurgel Aline do Monte, Santos Romário Correia Dos, Pereira João Antonio Dos Santos, Bezerra Virgínia Carmem Rocha, Souza Wayner Vieira de, Santos Mariana Olívia Santana Dos, Gurgel Idê Gomes Dantas
Instituto Aggeu Magalhães, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Recife, Brasil.
Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brasil.
Cad Saude Publica. 2023 Nov 13;39(10):e00238422. doi: 10.1590/0102-311XPT238422. eCollection 2023.
This study aimed to analyze the relationship between hospitalizations for respiratory problems and the regular burning of sugarcane in Pernambuco State, Brazil. This is an ecological time series study corresponding to the period from 2008 to 2018. The rates of hospitalizations for respiratory diseases in children aged under 5 years and in adults older than 60 years in sugarcane-producing and non-producing municipalities were compared using nonparametric Mann-Whitney statistical analysis. Together, we observed the monthly distribution of the hot spots occurrences in the case and control municipalities and applied Pearson's correlation to analyze the association between both variables. For both age groups, hospitalization rates are higher in sugarcane-producing municipalities, with a statistically significant difference p < 0.005. The rate of hospitalization in older adults is 28% higher in the case municipalities, and is even higher in children aged under 5 years whose ratio of the medians is 40%. However, the seasonal behavior of hospitalizations for respiratory diseases differs from that observed in the monthly distribution of hot spots, without statistically significant correlation. These findings suggest a possible association with chronic exposure to particulates emitted by biomass burning, compromising the health of vulnerable groups, and endorse the need to replace fires in the monoculture of sugarcane and to structure public policies to protect human and environmental health.
本研究旨在分析巴西伯南布哥州因呼吸道问题住院与甘蔗定期焚烧之间的关系。这是一项对应2008年至2018年期间的生态时间序列研究。使用非参数曼-惠特尼统计分析比较了甘蔗种植市和非种植市5岁以下儿童及60岁以上成年人的呼吸道疾病住院率。我们共同观察了病例市和对照市热点事件的月度分布，并应用皮尔逊相关性分析两个变量之间的关联。对于两个年龄组，甘蔗种植市的住院率更高，差异具有统计学意义（p < 0.005）。病例市老年人的住院率高出28%，5岁以下儿童的住院率更高，中位数之比为40%。然而，呼吸道疾病住院的季节性行为与热点事件月度分布中观察到的情况不同，无统计学显著相关性。这些发现表明可能与长期接触生物质燃烧排放的颗粒物有关，损害了弱势群体的健康，并支持在甘蔗单一栽培中取代焚烧以及制定保护人类和环境健康的公共政策的必要性。
