Intraurban differentials of perinatal mortality: modeling for identifying priority areas

Abstract Objective: To analyze the intraurban spatial distribution of perinatal mortality, its avoidability, and relationship with socioeconomic indicators in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, in the period from 2013 to 2015. Method: An ecological study with data from the Information Systems on Mortality and Live Births and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, using neighborhoods as the analysis unit. We elaborated an indicator of social deprivation formed by variables from the demographic census. We estimated the Kernel density of the deaths and calculated the Moran index of the perinatal mortality coefficients in the spatial analysis. We elaborated thematic maps of avoidable perinatal mortality and social deprivation. Results: The global statistical analysis of the mortality distribution indicated evidence of spatial aggregation. Moran's index was 0.18. We found clusters of perinatal mortality in neighborhoods of the Central, North, Northwest, and South Regions. In the North, Northwest, Southwest, and South Regions we identified neighborhoods with greater social deprivation and avoidable mortality coefficients. The primary cause of death was of fetuses and newborns affected by hypertensive maternal disorders. Conclusion: We demonstrated intraurban differentials in perinatal mortality among neighborhoods. The stratification of the urban space according to the social deprivation indicator presented a relation with the perinatal mortality and its avoidability