Vulneratibility to morbidity due to external causes among 60-year-old or older women, users of the basic health care services

Abstract

The article discusses morbidity due to external causes under the perspective of generational and gender vulnerability by women using Basic Health Care services. It describes and analyzes the morbidity profiles of women ages 60 or higher, attending the Municipal Health Care Network in a region of the city of Porto Alegre from February 2002 to February 2005. They are women of age 60 or above, living within the adscription area of the services in the studied region. The data derives from registrations of performed care filled out by health professionals of such services. The data was analyzed by category of events, crossed descriptive variables and absolute and relative frequency indexes. The results identified that the most frequent injures were deep wounds and abrasions, mental suffering and fractures. Most of the offenses occurred in the home, with accidents and animal bites the most frequent, followed by bad treatment associated with domestic violence. The registrations evidenced the generational vulnerability to sickness, maximized by gender vulnerability, due to external causes in the daily life of these women, being the home the place of highest evidence of concrete occurrences and conflicts.