Main Cause of Mortality in the Adult Population: Tobacco Producing Counties versus Urbanized

Abstract

Introduction: Knowing the mortality indicators allows managers and health professionals to understand the situational diagnosis of the health process and disease of a population. Objective: To present the main cause of mortality in adult population in municipalities with higher production of tobacco and with the highest proportion of urban population in Western region of the state of Santa Catarina. Method: Transversal descriptive study with a quantitative approach through the search of data in the Mortality Information System of the State Department of Health of Santa Catarina (Sistema de Informacao de Mortalidade da Secretaria de Estado da Saude de Santa Catarina) during the period of January 2011 to December 2012. The mortality data was compared among individuals from both genders, aged between 20 and 59 years old from three counties with the highest production of tobacco and three more urban municipalities of the Western Region. The variables selected were Main Cause, Gender and Percent of Deaths per Cause. Results: It was verified a greater proportion of mortality from external causes in more urban municipalities, which was related to traffic accidents, assaults and suicides. In municipalities characterized by higher production of tobacco, cancer represents the leading cause of mortality (36.9% of deaths), mainly related to the digestive, respiratory, cutaneous and central nervous system. Conclusion: The leading cause of death in the adult population in most urban municipalities is external and in municipalities with a greater production of tobacco is neoplasia. This indicates that there may be an association between occupational exposure to the cultivation to tobacco and premature death from cancer.