Clinical and epidemiological profile of elderly patients with Chagas disease followed between 2005-2013 by pharmaceutical care service in Ceará State, Northeastern Brazil

By controlling the transmission of Chagas disease, the challenge of providing assistance to millions of infected patients that reach old age arises. In this study, the socioeconomic, demographic and comorbidity records of all elderly chagasic patients followed at the Pharmaceutical Care Service of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo 2015-03, Vol.57 (2), p.145-152
Main Authors:	Pereira, Laíse dos Santos, Freitas, Erlane Chaves, Fidalgo, Arduína Sofia Ortet de Barros Vasconcelos, Andrade, Mônica Coelho, Cândido, Darlan da Silva, da Silva Filho, José Damião, Michailowsky, Vladimir, Oliveira, Maria de Fátima, Queiroz, José Ajax Nogueira
Format:	Article
Language:	eng ; por
Subjects:	Aged Brazil - epidemiology Cardiac form Chagas Disease Chagas Disease - epidemiology Chronic Disease Comorbidities Cross-Sectional Studies Elderly Female Humans Male Middle Aged Pharmaceutical Services Socioeconomic Factors TROPICAL MEDICINE
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Summary:	By controlling the transmission of Chagas disease, the challenge of providing assistance to millions of infected patients that reach old age arises. In this study, the socioeconomic, demographic and comorbidity records of all elderly chagasic patients followed at the Pharmaceutical Care Service of the Chagas Disease Research Laboratory were assessed. The information related to the clinical form of the disease was obtained from medical records provided by the Walter Cantídio University Hospital. The profile of the studied population was: women (50.5%); mean age of 67 years; retired (54.6%); married (51.6 %); high illiteracy rate (40.2%); and family income equal to the minimum wage (51.5%). The predominant clinical forms of Chagas disease were cardiac (65.3%) and indeterminate (14.7%). The main electrocardiographic changes were the right bundle branch block (41.0%), associated or not with the anterosuperior left bundle branch block (27.4%). The average number of comorbidities per patient was 2.23 ± 1.54, with systemic arterial hypertension being the main one found (67.0%). It was found that the elderly comprise a vulnerable group of patients that associate aging with cardiac and/or digestive disorders resulting from the evolution of Chagas disease and other comorbidities, which requires special attention from health services to ensure more appropriate medical and social care.
ISSN:	0036-4665 1678-9946 1678-9946