Factors associated with long-term hospitalizations in a high complexity hospital institution

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the factors associated with long-term hospitalizations of patients treated by the Unified Health System in a highly complex institution. Method: it is a quantitative cross-sectional study based on secondary data on hospital admissions from 2013 to 2015. The prevalence ratio was calculated using crude and adjusted Poisson regression. Results: about the 12,689 hospitalizations during the years of study, 645 were long hospital stay (>30 days), with a prevalence of 5.1%. There was a predominance of males (62%),> 60 years-old (52.6%). The most frequent causes of hospitalization were diseases of the circulatory system (33.5%) and external causes (22.3%). Death occurred to 45.6%. In the bivariate analysis, the following variables were statistically associated with long-term hospitalizations: gender, age (60 years-old and over), low or uneducated individuals, being from the 17^th Regional Health Department, having been admitted to the neurosurgery specialty and having needing ICU admission. However, the male gender remained in the final model, staying in the regional health department of the municipality under analysis and requiring admission to the Intensive Care Unit (p <0.001). Conclusion: Health promotion strategies aimed at men's health should be developed by the municipality, especially considering that they are the ones who most lose their lives due to the lack of health care and due to injuries resulting from external causes.