Prevalence and associated factors with of emergency services utilization by elderly in Brazil

The emergency room, one of the possibility to access the Brazilian public health system, meets a growing demand of the elderly. This study was aimed to know the prevalence of use and associated factors with the emergency services utilization by the elderly, through population-based research in the five Brazilian geopolitical regions, in one hundred municipalities with different population sizes. Data were collected by electronic questionnaire from August 2008 to April 2009. The sample consisted of 6,624 elderly, predominantly women (59%), mean age 70.9 years and most reported brown, yellow or indigenous population (53.9%). The prevalence of use in was 16.4% inthe last year. The use of services was greater for women, unmarried, with less schooling. The occurrence of falls and the medical diagnosis of hypertension and diabetes mellitus increased the probability of using the emergency services. The geopolitical region and population size were statistically associated, observing greater use in the South and Southeast regions and municipalities with 100,001 to 1,000,000 inhabitants. Characteristics of the investigated population indicate the need for improvements in primary health care and support networks. We suggest new studies to complement data about the elderly in the public health system.