Spatial configuration of the Dengue in the socioeconomic context of Alfenas-MG: Portrait of a decade

Abstract

Introduction: The relation between dengue and socioeconomic factors is object of controversy and there’s no record of studies in Alfenas-MG that had described such interaction in a municipal scale. Objectives: Characterize and group the census sectors of Alfenas-MG in socioeconomic levels and describe the distribution of the dengue cases around the area. Methods: Transversal study, in which were used demographic variables, multivariate statistics and analysis of the group to generate parameters of socioeconomic stratification. Confirmed cases of classic dengue between the years of 2001 to 2010 were geocoded to estimate the density of points by the Kernel’s Technique and describe the spatial distribution of the disease by the socioeconomic clusters. Results: There were obtained four clusters that grouped the census units in socioeconomic levels, in which the number 1 is regarded as the best, and the number 4 the worst, and the extracts 2 and 3 as intermediary levels. The residency’s area from the cases made several groups, with a random distribution around the territory, in an indifferent way to the socioeconomic results. The concentration of points varied both located in sectors with better socioeconomic condition and in less privileged areas, as the middle of census areas with distinct levels. Conclusion: The results points toward the direction that there were no relations at all between the levels of geographic distribution of the disease with the different socioeconomic groups of the City to the studied period.