Hospitalization for diabetes among adults and the elderly in Ceará State, Brazil, 2001-2012

OBJECTIVE:

to investigate diabetes mellitus hospitalization trends among adults and the elderly in the state of Ceará, Brazil, 2001-2012.

METHODS:

this was a study of time series derived using secondary data from the Unified Health System's Hospital Information System regarding the rate of annual hospitalizations for diabetes by age and sex of adults and seniors (20 or older). Polynomial regression models were used to analyze the temporal trend.

RESULTS:

during the study period 51,317 diabetes hospitalizations were recorded. The majority were females (58.41%). Overall hospitalizations for diabetes showed increasing trend during the study period (p=0.013; r²=0.560), and when analyzed separately showed significant increase among males (p=0.002; r²=0.734) and a decrease among females (p<0.001; r²=0.957).

CONCLUSION:

the growing overall trend of hospitalizations for diabetes reveals the need for joint efforts in promoting self-care in order to achieve a reduction in subsequent complications.

Hospitalization; Health Evaluation; Diabetes Mellitus ; Temporal Distribution