engleski

Geographical variation in mortality from systemic lupus erythematosus in Croatia

Background: As part of the research project "Epidemiology of SLE in Croatia", we analysed retrospectively data from the National mortality registry based on death certificates collected between 1995 and 2003 by the Croatian Institute of Public Health. Objectives: The aim was to estimate adjusted SLE death rates in Croatia and to analyze the distribution of SLE deaths with data mapping in order to disclose possible regional differences in SLE mortality. Methods: We identified cases where SLE (M32 ; ICD 10) was the main cause of death. Demographic data of the National Census 2001 were used for calculations. Age-adjusted rates were computed by the indirect method. The national age adjusted 9-year average SLE death rate was used to calculate the expected number of SLE deaths in 21 counties. Simple SMR was calculated. Data was mapped. Finally we compared continental and coastal counties using the same methodology. Results: 98 SLE deaths (15 male and 83 female) were registered in Croatia between 1995 and 2003. Female to male ratio was 5, 5:1. Median No of deaths per year was 11. Specific SLE mortality rate was 2, 5 per 1000000 population. 35% of total deaths occurred between 15 and 44 years. Sex specific SLE mortality rate was about 5x higher for female compared to male (4, 0 and 0, 88 per 1000000 respectively). SMR highly varied between counties (33 – 249). Based on disease mapping we noticed differences between continental and coastal counties. The SMR in continental part of Croatia was 81 as compared with 134 in coastal part. Conclusion: Calculated specific and standardised mortality rates for SLE in Croatia are relatively low. SLE is an important cause of premature death. Disease mapping is found to be useful in detecting regional differences. Further research is planed to examine regional disparities in death rates and to determine the causes of death to define how mortality from SLE can be further reduced.

systemic lupus erythematosus; SLE; mortality

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