Abstract

CARDOSO, Maria Souza; BAEZA, Fernanda Lucia Capitanio  and  CASTAN, Juliana Unis. Social determinants of health and the analysis of the hospitalization characteristics of a psychiatric unit in southern Brazil. Rev. SBPH [online]. 2021, vol.24, n.2, pp. 142-150. ISSN 1516-0858.

Psychiatric hospitalizations are one of the last resources to deal with mental health symptoms. The objective of this study was to analyze the profile of the psychiatric inpatients, comparing the hospitalizations by the type of health insurance used at the intake, as an indicator of Social Determinant of Health. It is a descriptive and cross-sectional analysis of electronic records of patients in psychiatric hospitalization at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), in 2016, 2017 and 2018, summing up 1119 hospitalizations. About half (53.5%) were women, aged between 30 and 59 years (52.5%) with incomplete elementary school (30.3%). The most prevalent diagnoses were mood disorders (55.7%) and schizophrenia (20,2%). Patients that used the public health insurance were mostly young and intermediate adult, had longer hospitalization (p=0,001) and needed more specialized consultancies on Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Psychological Assessment (p≤0,05) than the ones who used private health insurance. This study shows the impact of Social Determinants of Health on the manifestation and treatment of the diseases and on access to treatment. Knowing the profile of the patients helps planning of public policies.

Keywords : mental health; psychiatric department; hospital; social determinants of health.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )