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Variations in disease prevalence in the Americas
Author(s) -
Cedillos Rafael A.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt1976195part2675
Subject(s) - latin americans , disease , diarrhea , mortality rate , public health , cause of death , demography , acute diarrhea , medicine , environmental health , political science , pathology , surgery , sociology , law
Data are presented from North American and Latin American countries of the leading causes of death and death rates, demonstrating the sharp differences based on social and economic development of these respective countries. Whereas ischemic heart disease and malignant neoplasms head the list of deaths in the United States and Canada, infective and parasitic diseases of the gut, with diarrhea very common, are the principal causes of death in Latin America. Nutritional deficiency, the most important contributory cause associated with infections and diarrhea, accounts for the very high infant mortality rate in the lauer countries. These pathologie conditions have a direct relationship to the degree of social and economic level of development in Latin America, and constitute a complex public health problem of enormous proportions.