SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF DEATHS FROM FALLS IN THE ELDERLY IN BRAZIL FROM 2015 TO 2019

Abstract

The population of elderly people in Brazil has been increasing gradually and with this increase vulnerability becomes more visible. Trauma by falls are preventable accidents that have been reported frequently and the same due to their consequences can lead to death in this population. This study aims to analyze the mortality rate from falls in elderly people in Brazil from 2015 to 2019, tracing its epidemiological profile. This is an ecological, descriptive and retrospective study carried out with data from the platform of the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System (DATASUS), analyzing the variables of sex, age group, ethnicity, year, Brazilian states and the number of deaths. It was observed from the spatial analysis that there is a predominance of deaths from falls of elderly people, in three Brazilian states, being the state of Roraima (RR), Tocantins (TO) and Espírito Santo (ES), most of which are female, Roraima and Tocantins belong to the North region where deaths from falls of brown women aged 80 years or older prevail. Espírito Santo, on the other hand, belongs to the Southeast region, which has more deaths from falls among white women aged 80 years and over. These states that have high rates of death from falls in the elderly were identified, being an instrument to assess the weaknesses still found regarding accessibility for this population, public policies aimed at quality of life for the elderly, the promotion of the elderly-friendly community, policy issues in relation to quality of life can be re-addressed in the future.