PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sergio Mendonça AU - Selma Cristina Franco TI - Evaluation of epidemiologic risk and performance of tuberculosis control program in health regions of the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil, from 2003 to 2010 DP - 2014 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - P2606 VI - 44 IP - Suppl 58 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P2606.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P2606.full SO - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44 AB - Introduction: Tuberculosis is still a severe public health problem worldwide. In Brazil, the National Tuberculosis Control Program (PNCT) of the Ministry of Health recommends that prevention, diagnosis and treatment should be performed by the municipalities, preferably in primary care settings. The States are responsible to perform actions of monitoring and evaluation of municipal programs grouped by health regions.Objectives: Evaluate the epidemiologic risk and performance of PNCT in health regions in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil.Methods: An ecological study was conducted from 2003 to 2010, creating risk and performance scores for the 21 health regions. Based on the medians distribution of 4 risk indicators, regions were categorized as low, intermediate and high risk. The same procedure was made for 11 performance indicators, allowing to categorize regions as bad, intermediate and good performance. Finally, a severity index for each region was created based on the combination of risk and performance scores.Results: We observed 6 low, 9 intermediate and 6 high risk regions as well as 6 low, 9 intermediate and 6 good performance regions, with significant differences (p<0,001) in the indicators. The severity index of the regions ranged 2.5 times and showed distinct geographical distribution of risk and performance aspects concerning Tuberculosis in the State.Conclusion: Differences in epidemiologic risk and performance of Tuberculosis Program in the regions constitute a big challenge for local public health authorities and makes evident a potential for improving the quality of Tuberculosis care.