Abstract
Objectives
To identify the epidemiological profile of patients who died, to characterize these deaths according to sociodemographic and clinical variables and to analyze the relation between the underlying cause and immediate cause of death in a teaching hospital.
Methods
Quantitative cross-sectional study, with descriptive components, using as the main source of data the death certificates of the Information System of the Brazilian Unified Health System and the death declarations that occurred in 2016 in the institution studied.
Results
Of the 634 deaths, most of the patients were male (56.9%), being 70% Afro-descendants; it was observed that almost half (48.8%) were 65 years of age or older; it affected 50.7% of men over 66 years and 53.8% of women under 66 years. The main immediate causes of death were associated with neoplasms (45.4%) and infectious and parasitic diseases (28.9%). Regarding death declarations, there is an underreporting in consequential causes 2 and 3, of 12.6% and 49.9%, respectively.
Conclusion
The occurrence of infectious and parasitic diseases, the signs/symptoms and altered clinical/laboratory tests had an important impact as immediate cause of the analyzed deaths. It is noteworthy that deaths from neoplasms remained constant in all categories (immediate cause, consequential cause 2, consequential cause 3, and underlying cause).
Hospital mortality; Cause of death; Epidemiology; Information system