INTRODUCTION: In Brazil, there are approximately 370,000 asthma-related hospitalizations per year, representing the fourth leading cause of hospitalizations in public health services. In 2007, 157,000 elderly patients were hospitalized, 2.3% of which due to asthma in the Brazilian Amazon. Considering the implications of asthma on the quality of life of the elderly, analyses regarding this issue in the Amazon are surprisingly uncommon. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the geographical and seasonal distribution of asthma-related hospital admissions in the elderly population of the Brazilian Amazon during the period from 2001 to 2007. METHODS: Descriptive study of short-stay, non-elective hospital admissions, based on Kernel's method, standardized rates of hospitalization in annual and monthly series, seasonal climate, and a comparison of the proportion of hospitalizations during dry, intermediate and rain seasons. RESULTS: Asthma-related hospitalizations among the elderly were spatially distributed in the northern and eastern parts of the Brazilian Amazon. The Amazon experienced a decline in the rate of hospitalizations during the study period. Rondônia had approximately twice the number of hospitalizations as the other states, ranging from 10.9 ‰ in 2002 to 13.4 ‰ in 2006 in standardized rates. The rate of hospitalizations during the dry season was as much as three times that of the rain and intermediate seasons, with the highest rates in Rondônia (5.8 ‰) and Mato Grosso (3.3 ‰). CONCLUSION: Asthma-related hospital admissions in the elderly presented a declining trend and a significant seasonal variation, with the highest rate of hospitalizations observed during the dry season.
Asthma; Brazilian Amazon; Hospitalizations; Elderly; Climate seasonality
