Abstract

KOIZUMI, Maria S; JORGE, Maria Helena P. Mello; NOBREGA, Lucimara R. B.  and  WATERS, Camila. Children hospitalized due to traumatic brain injury in Brazil, 1998: causes and prevention. Inf. Epidemiol. Sus [online]. 2001, vol.10, n.2, pp.93-101. ISSN 0104-1673.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S0104-16732001000200004.

Utilizing the Hospitalization Information System (SIH-SUS), which is based on the Hospital Internship Authorizations (AIH), it was detected that, among TBI victims hospitalized in the government hospitals in Brazil, the percentage of children under ten years of age (20.7%) has been increasing. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the hospitalizations of these children according to epidemiologically important variables. Data on patients admitted to hospitals of the Unified Health System (SUS) for brain injury (codes S02 and S06 to S09 of CID-10, face injury cases excluded) were used. Of a total of 16,376 hospitalizations, 62.6% were male, 56.8% were children with ages between 0 and 4 years (15.4% were under one year of age), and 75.9% remained in hospital up to three days, while 2% left the hospital within 24 hours. Hospital case mortality rate was 2%. With respect to the nature of the injuries, intracranial lesions were the most frequent (67.6%), and among the external causes, falls were responsible for 61.2%, followed by transportation accidents (21.1%). Although the data do not permit identification of the types of falls and transportation accidents, the results obtained provide important informations for prevention programs for this type of injury

Keywords : Epidemiologic Surveillance; Traumatic Brain Injury; Hospitalization.

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