Visual, hearing, and motor impairments in the indigenous population in Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to describe the prevalence of visual, hearing, and motor impairments in the indigenous population in Brazil and to estimate the odds of presenting one of the three disabilities, separately, according to degree of severity. The data were obtained from the 2010 Population Census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The methods included direct standardization for calculation of the prevalence rates and multinomial logistic regression models. According to the standardized results, indigenous men and women showed the highest prevalence in each of the three disabilities, except for mild visual impairment in women. The results of the multinomial regression models revealed a relative disadvantage for indigenous peoples in nearly all the types of disability.