OBJECTIVES: to analyze the main reasons for admission to hospital of patients who could be treated by the Brazilian primary care system (ICSAP) by age group and region between 1999 and 2006. METHODS: a mixed ecological study was carried out of the main three reasons for ICSAP in those aged under 20 years. Secondary data were gathered from the Hospital Information System (SIH-SUS) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics' 2001 population census (IBGE). RESULTS: the three main reasons for ICSAP, in those aged under twenty years, were gastroenteritis, asthma and bacterial pneumonia. There was a reduction in the hospitalization rate for gastroenteritis (-12.0%) and asthma (-31.8%) and an increase of 142.5% in admissions to hospital for bacterial pneumonia, and these trends took a distinct form for each age group and region. CONCLUSIONS: the description of the trends over time revealed positive changes in the rates of admission to hospital for asthma and infectious gastroenteritis and negative changes in the case of pneumonia. Since these health problems are a high priority for primary health care, these findings show the need to undertake more in-depth analysis and reflect further on the determining factors underlying this pattern of admissions to hospital in the country.
Primary health care; Gastroenteritis; Asthma; Pneumonia
