Racial inequalities in adult women mortality in Recife, 2001 and 2003 / Desigualdades raciais na mortalidade de mulheres adultas no Recife, 2001 a 2003

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2005

RESUMO

The populationâs quality of life depends, primordially, on the citizenâs equal access to social, economical and political rights. The racial inequalities are effects of the social exclusion, being influenced by prejudice and discrimination. Although the notion of race is built and rebuilt in every day life, the term race was used here meaning a group identity or a political perception of sharing a particular racial heritage, which builds a positive social self-esteem that faces discrimination and eliminates racial disparities. The study objective was to characterize the mortality pattern of black (ânegrasâ) and white (âbrancasâ) adult women living in Recife, the capital of the State of Pernambuco, describing and investigating racial inequalities in mortality. A cross-sectional study was done, including all death of women aged 20 to 59, identified in the Mortality Information System (SIM) of the National Unified Health System (SUS). In this analysis, racial categories were created based on skin color, as registered on death certificates. "Black (ânegrasâ) were those women identified as âpretasâ (black) or âpardasâ (official term for the admixed population, most of them African descendents, that literally means "Brown"). Proportional mortality, mortality rates and ratios were obtained. Population denominators to calculate mortality rates were obtained from The Brazilian Census Bureau (IBGE). The results showed that black women have a risk of dying 1.7 higher than whites. It has also been shown that racial disparities in mortality were present in all the six health districts, for almost all causes of death, and among all age groups. According to the underlying causes registered on the death certificate, blacks women had a higher mortality rate for almost all causes of death classified in the ten main chapters of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-6), with a range in death rate from 1,2 for malignant neoplasms to 4,5 for death due to violence. The only exception was for malignant neoplasms for women aged 20 to 29. The selection of the ten more frequent specific causes of death showed that mortality rate for black women was also higher for all causes apart from breast cancer. Then, there was an increase in risk for black women for diabetes mellitus, cervix uteri cancer, cerebrovascular and squemic heart diseases, hypertensive diseases, homicide, suicide, motor vehicle accidents, tuberculosis and Aids. The risk ranged from 1.3 for Aids to 9.7 for homicide. The largest disparities in mortality between black and white women were observed for homicide, which was forty times higher for black women aged 20 to 29 than for whites in the same age group. The mortality rate for violence showed a decline with age, being the first cause of death among women aged 20 to 29 and the second for those aged 30 to 39. A large difference was also found in the risk of dying due to maternal causes in the period studied, which disproportionately affected black women. Among the blacks there were a higher proportion of women who were not in union (single, widow or separated), who were housewives or worked as domestic servants, who were less educated and who died in public hospitals. Black women had also five times more deaths on the street. In conclusion, the present study reveals large racial disparities in the mortality of women in Recife, with disadvantage of black women, that are the expression of social stratification based on sexist and racial discrimination, which determines inequalities in power and access in society in a extent that violate human rights. It also emphasizes the need of identifying and monitoring race inequality on health and of building societal support to eliminate them

ASSUNTO(S)

desigualdade racial adult women mortality saude publica black women and health mortalidade em mulheres adultas racial inequality mulher negra e saÃde.

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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