Inpatient flow for Covid-19 in the Brazilian health regions

Abstract

Investigate the flows of hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the 450 Brazilian health regions and 117 macro-regions in the period from March to October 2020. Descriptive study, comprising all hospitalizations for COVID-19 registered in the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (SIVEP -Flu) between the 8th and the 44th epidemiological weeks of 2020. The proportion of hospitalizations for COVID-19 performed by residents that occurred within their respective health region was calculated, stratified according to periods of greater and lesser demand for hospitalizations and according to population size of health regions. 397,830 admissions were identified by COVID-19 in Brazil. Evasion was 11.9% of residents in the health regions and 6.8% in the macro-regions; the pattern that was also maintained during the peak period of hospitalizations for COVID-19. There was an average of 17.6% of evasion of residents in the health regions of the Northeast and of 8.8% in the health regions of the South. Evasion was more accentuated in health regions with up to 100 thousand / inhab. (36.9%), which was 7 times greater than that observed in health regions with more than 2 million / inhabitants (5.2%).