Abstract

Objective. Evaluate the impact of the Adult Respiratory Diseases (ERA) Program and the General System of Explicit Health Guarantees (GES) on mortality from community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in persons aged >= 65 years in Chile. Methods. In this ecological study, annual and quarterly mortality rates from CAP were calculated in persons aged 65 to 79 years and >= 80 years from 1990 to 2014. Information was gathered from the databases of Chile's Department of Health Statistics and Information and its National Statistics Institute. The ERA Program (implemented in 2001) and the inclusion of CAP in the GES (starting in 2005) were evaluated as interventions. Data were analyzed using the interrupted time-series method, following the Prais-Winsten model, with a 5% significance level. Results. The analysis showed that after the ERA Program began, significant reductions in CAP mortality were observed in the two age groups studied, whereas after CAP was added to the GES program, no statistically significant changes were found in those rates. Conclusions. Implementation of the ERA Program helped to reduce CAP mortality in persons aged >= 65 years in Chile, whereas inclusion of CAP in the GES program did not.