INTRODUCTION: Important growth in external causes has been occurring in Brazil and affects the morbimortality of its population. These causes impose heavy economic and social burdens, including hospital costs. OBJECTIVE: to analyze the hospitalizations for injuries and poisonings in SUS or SUS-licensed hospitals in the state of São Paulo and to determine the cost of these hospitalizations to the government, taking some important variables into consideration. METHOD: hospitalizations in SUS hospitals or SUS-licensed hospitals in 2000: information obtained in the Datasus database for Brazil and the state of São Paulo. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: comparing natural causes - excluding pregnancy, delivery, and puerperium - and external causes, the latter make up around 10% of total hospitalizations, required shorter stay periods, and were responsible for around 10% of the total amount paid for all the hospitalizations. Although stay may be shorter, SUS expenditures measured by cost per day and average cost were higher than hospitalizations for natural causes. Most frequent causes of hospitalization were falls and transportation accidents; these had cost-per day and average cost higher than the averages obtained. With regard to discharge conditions, costs tripled for those who died during hospitalization, compared to those in condition to be discharged.
Hospital costs; Injuries; Epidemiology; Morbidity; Mortality
