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Objective: Describe consumption patterns for monetary and non-monetary acquisition of medicines according to age and income groups, highlighting pharmaceuticals associated with health programs with specific access guarantees., Methods: Descriptive observational study using microdata from the 2017-2018 Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (Household Budget Survey, POF/IBGE). We initially reviewed programs/policies with specific guarantees of access to medicines in the SUS. Using the pharmaceutical product list of POF-4 (chart 29 of the questionnaire on individual expenditures), we selected the medicines related to these programs. We then described frequencies and percentages for not reporting medicine consumption and for reporting consumption (either through monetary or non-monetary acquisition) according to age and income groups. For medicines with distinctive access guarantees, we compared average monthly values of acquisitions and consumption patterns by age and income., Results: 63% of those in the ≤ 2 minimum wage (MW) household income group did not report consuming medicines in the last month. Among those earning > 25 MW, 44.3% did not report consumption. Non-monetary acquisitions of medicines were mainly reported for the < 10 MW group and for the elderly and accounted for 20.5% of the total consumption of medicines (in value). For policies with specific access guarantees, non-monetary acquisitions reached 33.6% of total consumption. This percentage varied for the various selected medicines: vaccines, 83.3%; cancer drugs, 70.3%; diabetes, 47.9%; hypertension, 35.9%; asthma and bronchitis, 29.2%; eye problems, 14%; prostate and urinary tract, 10.7%; gynecological, 11.6%; and contraceptives, 9.7%., Conclusion: Shares for non-monetary acquisitions of medicines are still low but benefit mainly lower-income and older age groups. Policies and programs with specific access guarantees to medicines have increased access. Results suggest the need to strengthen and expand pharmaceutical care policies.

According to studies using previous editions of the Household Budgets Survey (POF) in Brazil, paying for a healthcare plan increases the percentage of income spent on health and fails to reduce the probability of incurring excessive health expenditures. The study's objective was to describe relations between expenditures on healthcare plans, income, and age groups, highlighting the effect of having a plan on the probability of committing more than 40% of income on health-related expenditures. An analysis of the POF 2017/2018 determined the commitment of per capita household income for payers of plans by age group and type of plan and logistic regression for factors associated with committing more than 40% of income to health-related expenditures. In 12 months, 22.1 million Brazilians spent BRL 78.1 billion on private medical insurance. The share of income spent on individual plans increases consistently with age, from 4.5% of per capita household income (at < 19 years) to 10.6% of this income (at 79 years or older). The probability of committing more than 40% of income to health expenditures decreases with income, increases with age, and is higher for those paying for health plans. Spending on healthcare plans alone exceeds 40% of per capita household income for 5.6% of Brazilians 60 years or older who pay for individual plans and for 4% of those who pay for company plans. Persons in the oldest age groups and in the lowest income brackets show the highest likelihood of spending more than 40% of their income on healthcare. A revision of the plans' adjustment by age is an alternative for attempting to mitigate this problem.

Background: From 2006 to 2017, the Brazilian federal government provided free of charge traditional insulins for diabetes treatment. This involved public tendering by the Department of Health Logistics of the Ministry of Health (DLOG-MOH) and the reimbursement after direct contracting for supply with commercial private retailers (Brazilian Popular Pharmacy Program - PFPB)., Objective: We aim to describe the budget of the Brazilian federal government committed to for the acquisition of insulin, as well as corresponding prices and treatment availability from 2009 to 2017., Methods: Insulin volume and expenditure data were obtained in official administrative databases and in the Electronic System of the Information Service to Citizens. Data were analyzed according to the total provision by the federal government, DLOG-MOH and PFPB. Moreover, data were presented according to insulin type. Volumes were calculated in number of defined daily doses (DDD)/1,000 inhabitants/day., Results: Budgetary commitments due to insulin over nine years amounted to U$1,027 billion in 2017, with an approximate average of U$114.1 million per year. DLOG-MOH was the main insulin provider, despite the increase in PFPB provision along period. DLOG-MOH and PFBP together provided an average of 6.08 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day for nine years. Average prices in PFPB were higher than those in the DLOG series, with a downward trend over the years, narrowing to 2.7 times in 2017, when compared to 2009., Conclusions: Brazil evidenced a moderately sustainable and effective, albeit imperfect, policy for public provision of traditional insulins in the period preceding mandatory free supply of insulin analogues. Future studies must address treatment availability and financial sustainability in the new scenario.

Background: Although performance of rapid immunochromatographic tests (RITs) for dengue virus (DENV) serotypes 1, 2 and 3 is relatively settled, evidence on accuracy of RITs for DENV-4 are based on studies with small sample sizes and with discrepant results., Objectives: To assess accuracy and inter-observer agreement of RITs targeting dengue nonstructural protein-1 (NS1) antigen - Dengue NS1-Bioeasy™, Dengue NS1 Ag Strip-Bio-Rad™, IVB Dengue Ag NS1-Orangelife™ and Dengue NS1-K130-Bioclin™ in DENV-4 samples., Methods: Study sample (n = 324) included adults presenting at an emergency unit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with fever of ≤72 h and two or more dengue symptoms. A serum sample from each patient was tested by each RIT. A positive reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was considered as the reference standard for dengue diagnosis. The diagnostic parameters analyzed for each RIT were sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and likelihood ratios. Each RIT was read by homogeneous (two junior nurses) or heterogeneous (one junior nurse and one senior biologist) pairs. Agreement was estimated by simple kappa with 95% confidence interval, positive (Ppos) and negative (Pneg) proportion concordance and prevalence and bias adjusted kappa, rated from poor (k < 0.0) to almost perfect (0.8 < k < 1.0), and perfect (k = 1)., Results: NS1 RITs for DENV-4 diagnosis showed high specificity (95.9%-99.4%), but low sensitivity (14.7%-45.4%). Bioeasy™ had the best performance, with a positive likelihood ratio of 26.0 (95% CI: 8.4;81.0). Inter-observer agreement was almost perfect for all evaluated RITs. Mismatches in confirmed dengue were more common for the Bioclin™ (Ppos 88.3-90.0 %) and Orangelife™ (Ppos 91.7-94.1 %) tests., Conclusions: For DENV-4, the tested RITs had high specificity, but lower sensitivity compared to published results for other serotypes. They should not be used for screening purposes. Different brands may have very different performances. This should be considered upon deciding of using RITs in DENV-4 outbreaks., (Copyright © 2020 Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

There are various guidelines for the treatment of obesity, and thus the quality of these clinical guidelines has become a matter of concern. The objective was to describe and assess the quality of clinical guidelines for treatment of obesity in adults. We collected several studies, dated from 1998 to 2016, produced by different countries. The literature search included the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC), Guidelines International Network (GIN), PubMed (MEDLINE), Scopus, Web of Science, webpages of health institutions from different countries, and search sites, with the criterion: "clinical guidelines for treatment of obesity in adults and published until the 2016". The guidelines were assessed with the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE II), according to the domains of the instrument. The search identified 21 guidelines: nine from Europe, six from North America, three from Latin America, and one each from Asia and Oceania and a transnational association. The Australian guideline had the best assessment. Of the six guidelines with the highest scores, five had been elaborated by the government sector responsible for the country's health. The domains "scope and purpose" and "clarity of presentation" had the highest score. Except for the Canadian guideline, the three guidelines drafted before the elaboration of AGREE II had the worst quality. In the domain "stakeholder involvement", only four guidelines (Australia, Scotland, France, and England) mentioned patient participation. Guideline development and quality enhancement are ongoing processes requiring systematic appraisal of the guideline production process and existing guidelines.