Background: In Chile, hydatidosis is endemic throughout the country and hyperendemic in some regions. It continues to be a public health problem that has been neglected and little addressed at the national level. In the Region of Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, reported cases and hospital discharges still show high values, this area being representative of medium risk.
Aim: To estimate the risk of human hydatidosis in this region, studying the relationship of notifications and hospital discharge rates with social and environmental factors such as population, poverty index, schooling, literacy, average temperature, average rainfall and sheep population size.
Methods: Poisson regressions were used to study the factors associated with reported cases and hospital discharge rates and the BYM model for relative risk.
Results: We found that the factors most related to absolute risk were the schooling index as a protective factor and the average temperatures as an enhancing factor. The sheep population size was also a relevant factor, especially when analyzing the distribution of relative risk. The areas of greatest risk in the region were La Estrella, Marchigue, Litueche, Santa Cruz and Lolol according to discharge rates, adding Pumanque and Peralillo according to notifications. These reveal a distribution of the zones of risk of hydatidosis towards the coastal mountain range in this region.
Discussion/conclusion: The more relevant factors associated to hydatidosis were schooling index, temperature an sheep population.