Web-Based Dashboard for Tracking Cryptococcosis-Related Deaths in Brazil (2000-2022).
Eric Renato Lima Figueiredo, Lucca Nielsen, João Simão de Melo-Neto, Claudia do Socorro Carvalho Miranda, Nelson Veiga Gonçalves, Rita Catarina Medeiros Sousa, Anderson Raiol Rodrigues
Abstract
Open AccessBackground: Cryptococcosis, a systemic mycosis, remains a neglected disease in Brazil due to the absence of systematic national surveillance. This study developed an interactive dashboard to analyze cryptococcosis-related deaths (2000-2022) and forecast trends through regional ARIMA modeling. Methodology: The Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining framework was employed to extract mortality data from the Brazilian Mortality Information System, utilizing the microdatasus package in R Studio software, with R version 3.4.0. The records were then filtered using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes (B45 series) to identify primary and associated causes of death. After data extraction, a series of data preprocessing steps was implemented, including deduplication, variable recoding, and the management of missing values. The Shiny framework was employed to construct an interactive dashboard, incorporating Plotly and DT packages, with time-series visualizations, demographic variables, and multilingual support (Portuguese/English). Results: Among 12,308 deaths (2227 primary; 10,081 associated causes), most occurred in males aged 21-60 years. Data completeness was high for age/residence (100%) but lower for education (82%). The dashboard enables dynamic exploration of trends, demographic patterns, and open-data downloads. Regional ARIMA models revealed heterogeneous forecasts, with the Southeast projecting a decline (193 deaths in 2025; 95% CI: 146-240) and the South showing stability (141 deaths; 95% CI: 109-173). Conclusions: This tool bridges a critical gap in cryptococcosis surveillance, enabling dynamic mortality trend analysis, identification of high-risk demographics, and regional forecasting to guide public health resource allocation. While the absence of HIV serostatus data limits etiological analysis, the dashboard's open-source framework supports adaptation for other neglected diseases.