title: Mortality from Cardiovascular Diseases in the Elderly: Comparative Analysis of Two Five-year Periods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in Brazil. The better understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of mortality from cardiovascular diseases in the Brazilian elderly population is essential to support more appropriate health actions for each region of the country.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe and to compare geospatially the rates of mortality from cardiovascular disease in elderly individuals living in Brazil by gender in two 5-year periods: 1996 to 2000 and 2006 to 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is an ecological study, for which rates of mortality were obtained from DATASUS and the population rates from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística). An average mortality rate for cardiovascular disease in elderly by gender was calculated for each period. The spatial autocorrelation was evaluated by TerraView 4.2.0 through global Moran index and the formation of clusters by the index of local Moran-LISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was an increase, in the second 5-year period, in the mortality rates in the Northeast and North regions, parallel to a decrease in the South, South-East and Midwest regions. Moreover, there was the formation of clusters with high mortality rates in the second period in Roraima among females, and in Ceará, Pernambuco and Roraima among males.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The increase in mortality rates in the North and Northeast regions is probably related to the changing profile of mortality and improvement in the quality of information, a result of the increase in surveillance and health care measures in these regions.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Grasiela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piuvezam
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Wilton Rodrigues
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andressa Vellasco
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Felipe Fonseca
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Emerenciano
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renata Cristina
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Danilo Silveira
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Seabra
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D013997:Time Factors