There is evidence that behavioral and lifestyle changes, encouraged by the Protestant churches in Brazil (especially Pentecostals and Neo-Pentecostals), are positively associated with variables such as health and income, which are, in their turn, considered into the Human Development Index (HDI)...

The health sector is one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy having major impacts on levels of social welfare. On the one hand the consumption of goods and health services directly affects the welfare of the individual to the extent that health is a parameter of the individual utility...

Brazil presents severe socioeconomic inequalities among regions and individuals. Several studies analyze the determinants of these inequalities and its effects on social welfare indicators, such as health. This paper measures the socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare utilization in Brazil and...

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a serious public health problem, and can be considered an "epidemic" in growth. Obesity, hyperlipidemia and smoking accelerate the progression culminating in need of treatment. Life expectancy at every age is reduced, the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke...

The present study discusses some aspects related to the the anlyzes of mortality causes. The folowing issues are addressed: (1) the underlying causes-of-death mortality, presenting their uses and limitations, (2) the issue of mortality based on multiple causes, indicating presentation forms and...

In this article we use data from the 1998 birth-cohort from the City of São Paulo for live births and data on deaths from the same birth cohort that took place before the first year of life. Information on live birth came from the Information System of Live Births (SINASC) and on deaths came...

This paper conjectures about a disconnection between the scientific and the technological dimensions of the Brazilian health innovation system. Statistics of patents and scientific papers are used in the investigation of this conjecture. The international position of Brazil in regard to the...

This paper aims to test the relationship between health and per capita economic growth. Two main causalities were discussed: if health would directly increase labor productivity or if it would, indirectly, intensify the positive effect of education on growth. A better health status could...

One of the main socioeconomic problems observed in most countries – particularly in less developed countries – is the presence of high income inequality and poverty level. Several empirical works have attempted to analyze their major determinants as well as their effect on some indicators...

Probabilistic record linkage allows the assembling of information from different data sources. In this article, we present a procedure in case a one-to-one relationship between records in different files is expected but is not found only by applying the probabilistic record linkage methodology....