Sociodemographic, Clinical, and Functional Characteristics of Patients Supported by a Compassionate Community Initiative in Socially Vulnerable Urban Settings in Brazil
Luciana da Silva Couto, Maria Gefé da Rosa Mesquita, Liana Amorim Corrêa Trotte, Janaína Santos Nascimento, Alexandre Ernesto Silva, Cintia Maia Prates, Livia Costa de OliveiraAim
To describe the sociodemographic, clinical, and functional characteristics of patients with life‐threatening illnesses supported by a Compassionate Community initiative in socially vulnerable urban settings, based on data from the Rocinha and Vidigal favelas.
Methods
This cross‐sectional study retrospectively extracted data from the medical records of patients with life‐threatening illnesses supported by the Rocinha and Vidigal Compassionate Community in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 2019 and 2023. Sociodemographic, clinical, and functional characteristics were summarized using descriptive statistics.
Results
Sixty‐eight patients met the inclusion criteria. Most participants were aged 60 years or older (67.6%), were women (60.3%), and resided in Rocinha (70.6%). Among participants with available information, 61.1% self‐identified as Black or mixed race, 70.0% had up to nine years of formal education, 63.5% received social security benefits, 76.5% had an identified caregiver, and 91.2% were registered with the local primary healthcare service. Cancer was the most frequent diagnosis (54.4%). A Karnofsky Performance Status score of 50% or higher was documented for 57.4% of the participants, while 42.6% had scores below 50%. Pain (31.0%), functional decline (20.7%), gastrointestinal symptoms (19.0%), and fatigue (10.3%) were the most frequently documented problems at the initial assessment.
Conclusion
People supported by this Compassionate Community initiative had substantial clinical and functional needs alongside marked social vulnerability. These findings help address an important evidence gap by describing the characteristics of individuals supported by a community‐based initiative in a socially vulnerable urban setting and provide a foundation for future studies evaluating the implementation and contribution of Compassionate Communities within formal health and social care systems.