Hospitalization and hospital mortality of elderly people with mental and behavioral disorders in Brazil, 2008-2014.

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the evolution of hospitalizations and hospital mortality of elderly people with mental and behavioral disorders in Brazil, from 2008 to 2014.

METHODS: this is a time series ecological study, with data from the Hospital Information System of the Brazilian National Health System (SIH/SUS), and analyzed through Prais-Winsten regression.

RESULTS: during the studied period, 139,941 hospitalizations and 2,962 deaths were recorded; the hospitalization coefficient for mental and behavioral disorders decreased in Brazil, from 122.3 to 84.2 per 100 thousand inhabitants (-0.14%; 95%CI -0.25;-0.03), and its macroregions, except the South, which presented stationary trend (0.08%; 95%CI -0.11;0.27); the hospital mortality coefficients in Brazil, in 2008 and 2014, were, respectively, 1.73 and 2.38 per 100 thousand inhabitants; dementia was the main diagnosis in hospitalizations that registered deaths (32.3%).

CONCLUSION: despite the reduction in hospitalization coefficient for mental and behavioral disorders during the studied period, the hospital mortality coefficient has increased.