Perfil das hospitalizações e fatores associados em idosos usuários do SUS

Abstract

This article seeks to establish the causes of hospitalizations among the elderly and identi- fy the prevalence and associated factors. It is a cross-sectional study with 418 elderly users of SUS selected by multistage proportional sampling in the nine Sanitary Districts of Goiânia. Hospital- ization was defined as a positive response to the question: “Were you hospitalized in the past year?” The independent variables were collected on a standardized questionnaire. Associations were explored through the prevalence ratio and the respective 95% CI. Multivariate analysis was conducted using hierarchical Poisson regression. The prevalence of hospitalizations was 24.4% and the major causes were circulatory (28.4%), res- piratory (9.8%) and infectious and parasitic dis- eases (9.8%). In multivariate analysis, the fol- lowing variables continued to be associated with hospitalizations: A/B economic class, reports of five or more diseases and weight loss. The results revealed a high prevalence of hospitalizations and that factors involved are mainly related to socio- economic issues and health status, which dem- onstrates that it is necessary to monitor these cases in primary health care to prevent unnecessary hospitalization.