COVID-19 as the leading cause of hospital deaths in the Brazilian public health system in 2020

Ivan Ricardo Zimmermann; Mauro Niskier Sanchez; Layana Costa Alves; Gustavo Saraiva Frio; Fabrício Vieira Cavalcante; Juan José Cortez-Escalante; Everton Nunes da Silva; Leonor Maria Pacheco Santos

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.077

COVID-19 as the leading cause of hospital deaths in the Brazilian public health system in 2020

Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Dec:113:162-165. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.077. Epub 2021 Oct 2.

Authors

Ivan Ricardo Zimmermann¹, Mauro Niskier Sanchez², Layana Costa Alves³, Gustavo Saraiva Frio², Fabrício Vieira Cavalcante², Juan José Cortez-Escalante⁴, Everton Nunes da Silva⁵, Leonor Maria Pacheco Santos²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Collective Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil; Collective Health Course, Faculty of Ceilândia, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil. Electronic address: ivan.zimmermann@unb.br.
² Department of Collective Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil.
³ Department of Collective Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil; Institute of Collective Health at the Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
⁴ Pan American Health Organization, Brasília, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Collective Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil; Pan American Health Organization, Brasília, Brazil.

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the profile of hospital deaths in Brazil according to cause of admission during the pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic periods (2020).

Methods: Descriptive study based on individual-level records of all hospital admissions with death outcomes reimbursed by the Brazilian National Health System in 2019 and 2020.

Results: The number of hospital deaths increased by 16.7% in 2020 compared with 2019 (522,686 vs 609,755). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was associated with 19.5% (118,879) of all hospital deaths in 2020, surpassing diseases of the circulatory system (15.4%, 93,735) and diseases of the respiratory system (14.9%, 91,035).

Conclusions: COVID-19 was the main cause of death in public hospitals in Brazil in 2020.

Keywords: Brazil; COVID-19; Cause of death; Hospital mortality; SARS-CoV-2l; Unified health system.

MeSH terms

Brazil / epidemiology
COVID-19*
Hospitals, Public
Humans
Public Health
SARS-CoV-2