Mapeando a saúde: a utilização de sistemas de informação geográfica, o risco ambiental e o câncer

Abstract

Considering that human health is linked to environmental, social, and economic conditions, all changes in the environment can affect populations and their patterns of health and disease. In this way, the rapid changes that are taking place on the planet, the accelerated industrialization, the use of natural resources, the destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems and the uncontrolled occupation of the land, end up increasing the pressure on species and contributing to the emergence and the reappearance of diseases. The term “one health” reinforces the concept that human health also depends on the health of animals, plants, and the ecosystem in which they are inserted. Long-term exposure to harmful factors and environments increases the risk of developing acute or chronic pathologies, such as cancer. The state of Rio Grande do Norte has a deleterious environmental characteristic, caused by soil contamination by radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium, whose radioactive isotopes and their decay products can serve as sources of environmental contamination. Previous studies have demonstrated the presence of Radon, which is part of the Uranium decay chain in several municipalities in the state. This study aimed, through a Geographic Information System, to determine if the occurrences of cancer deaths in the state follow a geographic pattern and present the formation of aggregates associated with regions known to be contaminated by Radon.