Costs and length of stay of hospitalization for elderly residents in Recife - PE

• Autor(a) principal: Morosini,Simone
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Marques,Ana Paula de Oliveira, Leal,Márcia Carréra Campos, Marino,Jacira Guiro, Melo,Hugo Moura de Albuquerque
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Geriatrics, Gerontology and Aging (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://ggaging.com/details/250
• topic: Aging, elderly, morbidity, hospitalization.

<p><b>OBJECTIVE:</b> To describe the distribution of hospitalizations in the Unified Health System (SUS) of elderly in Recife, with respect to cost and length of hospitalization, according to gender, age and major causes from 1998 to 2005.<br> <b>METHODS:</b> A study of descriptive and cross-sectional nature were performed, using data obtained from the Bank of the Hospitalization System of the SUS, focusing on the analysis of Hospitalization Authorizations (AIHs) issued for elderly patients (aged 60 and over) in the referred period. Gender, age and primary diagnosis were studied as independent variables while cost and length of hospitalization were the dependent variables. The statistical analysis were performed by means of Pearson's chi-square test and linear regression.<br> <b>RESULTS:</b> A total number of 137,546 hospitalizations with cost of R$ 101,019,926.20 have been described throughout the study period. Of this total, R$ 49,661,829.38 was allocated for males (49.2%) and R$ 51,358,096.77 for females (50.8%). The ratio between the proportion of funds paid for hospitalizations and the proportional size of the population increases gradually with age for both sexes. The average cost and length of hospitalization decrease with increasing age. 70.6% of total expenditures (R$ 71,480,950.14) were for circulatory diseases, mental disorders, respiratory diseases, digestive tract, and neoplasms. The mean length of hospitalization was longer for the mental and behavioral disorders.<br> <b>CONCLUSION:</b> Knowing the profile of hospitalizations has shown to be very important for monitoring and evaluating the health care system and the outcome of this study reinforces the need for implementing prevention activities and health programs throughout the life course.</p>