Epidemiological profile of elderly patients treated in the emergency room of a hospital of Belém/PA

Abstract

Introduction: population aging in Brazil is occurring at great strides and with it a whole concern, not only with the social security system, but with the structure of health services to meet this growing demand with its singularities and that increasingly seek emergency services. Methodology: This was a descriptive and retrospective study. The data were collected from reports issued by the operating system and the direct analysis of 470 electronic medical records of the hospital. Statistical analysis was performed using BioEstat 5.3® software. Statistical significance was accepted at the 95% level (p value <0.05). Results: the profile of the elderly attended in this early care was mainly composed of young adults, between 60 and 70 years (56.6%), women (64%), where more than half had some comorbidity (65.3%), and hypertension was the most prevalent. Discussion: A higher concentration of elderly people between 60 and 70 years old is evident, similar result to Silvia et al. (2016). It also verified that the hihest percentage of visits was female, which was different from other studies as Cunha, Nascimento and Sá (2014) and Rodrigues and Ribeiro (2012). Conclusion: there is still a need for more epidemiological research in this sense, with a better standardization of data, so that they can subsidize strategies, not only in the private sector, but also in the public sector, for the best and most effective care of this population.