Abstract

SANTOS, Juliana Siqueira  and  BARROS, Maria Dilma de Alencar. Elderly people of the Municipality of Recife, State of Pernambuco, Brasil: an analysis of morbimortality in hospitals. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2008, vol.17, n.3, pp.177-186. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742008000300003.

This article analyses the current morbidity and mortality situation (2005) of the elderly (60-year-old or more) in the Municipality of Recife, State of Pernambuco, Brazil. Data were obtained from the Hospitals Information System, of the Brazilian Health System (SIH/SUS). Elderly people, who represent 9.4% of the general population, were responsible for 19.2% of the hospitals admissions (AIH type I). The six main causes of the admission of the elderly were circulatory system diseases, followed by digestive system and respiratory system diseases, neoplasias and external causes, which together represented 68.1% of hospital morbidity causes. It was verified that the coefficient of hospital mortality of the elderly population was 3.3 times more than that of adults. Among women, the difference was even higher (five times). It was observed that the main causes for the morbidity among the elderly are passive to reduction through wide political promotion, prevention as well as opportune and adequate treatment of these illnesses.

Keywords : ageing of population; hospitalization; morbimortality indicators.

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