GEOGRAFIA MÉDICA E TUBERCULOSE: IDENTIFICAÇÃO DOS AGLOMERADOS ESPACIAIS DA DOENÇA NO MUNICÍPIO DE JOÃO PESSOA-PARAÍBA

Abstract

The current situation involving the aspectsrelated to tuberculosis has been determined by it as a global emergency. Brazil has among the countries that notify cases of the disease worldwide, in particular, the Northeast is among the most reports. The study sought, through the characteristics of medical geography, detect spatial clusters of tuberculosis in the city of João Pessoa in 2010. The SCAN method seeks to identify spatial clusters, and is based on the method of maximum likelihood, so this was verified with the null hypothesis of random occurrence of tuberculosis cases in the neighborhoods. Were detected patterns that do not obey the randomness of tuberculosis cases in the period studied. Thus, based on medical geography, it is clear that the spatial variables are an important determinant of health and should not therefore be disregarded in influencing the occurrence of health events.

Index terms - Medical geography, Tuberculosis, Spatial clusters.