HOSPITALIZATIONS FOR THE TREATMENT OF HEART FAILURE: AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is one of the greatest challenges for Brazilian public health due to the annual increase in cases and its high rate eventuality that leads to hospitalization. Despite the improvement in treatments and patient survival in recent years, there was no decrease in the hospitalization rate. The aim of this study is to analyze how this disease impacts public health in terms of bed occupancy and mortality. For this, an observational, descriptive and transversal study of the numbers and information contained in the DATASUS database was carried out, from January 2015 to January 2020. The analyzed content was the average stay of each patient, total number of hospitalizations and the heart failure mortality. Between the period observed, in Brazil, 1,079,853 hospitalizations were carried out for the treatment of the disease. Taking into account the rate of permanence, the Southeast region stands out with an average of 8.2 days of hospitalization, while in relation to the mortality rate, the same stands out with the lowest average of 8.7. Analyzing the total number of hospitalizations for HF, it was observed that the disease is responsible for almost 2% of the total number of hospitalizations in SUS. In Brazil, an average of 250,000 patients with HF are diagnosed per year, increasing the expenses with this syndrome. Despite the growing prominence of this disease, in addition to new forms of treatment, there are insufficient clinical and therapeutic data, which makes preventive strategy difficult to reduce the incidence and consequently the hospitalization rate.