Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Research Article

Hospital Admissions of Cancer Patients in Brazil: Analysis of Palliative Care Needs

¹Community Health Service and Palliative Care Service, Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição – GHC (Conceição Hospital Group), Brazil

²Department of Education and Medical Simulation, University of Porto- Portugal; Visiting Professor of Post-Graduate Program in Collective Health from UNIFOR, Brazil

³Information Technology, Department of the Brazilian Health System-SUS (DATASUS), Ministry of Health, Brazil

⁴Palliative Care Service, Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição – GHC, Brazil

⁵Director of the CINTESIS–FMUP, Brazil

*Corresponding Author:

Cledy Eliana dos Santos
Family and Palliative Care M.D., Conceição Hospital Group
Pain and Palliative Care Service, Francisco Trein, 596, Cristo Redentor
Porto Alegre, RS 91350200, Brazil
Tel: +555133572140
Fax: +555132551744
E-mail: cledy.eliana@gmail.com

Received date: April 19, 2016; Accepted date: May 23, 2016; Published date: May 27, 2016

Citation: Santos CD, Caldas JMP, Serafim JA, Barros N, Pereira AC (2016) Hospital Admissions of Cancer Patients in Brazil: Analysis of Palliative Care Needs. J Palliat Care Med 6:263. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000263

Copyright: © 2016 Santos CD, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: Cancer figures among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Brazil, with approximately 576,000 new cases and around 200,000 cancer-related deaths in 2013. According to the Brazilian National Oncological Policy, cancer control must include health promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care, following the Brazilian Health System (SUS) guiding principles of Universality, Equity, and Integrality of health care. Aims: 1) Outline the hospital admissions of patients for the treatment of clinical cancer intercurrences in the Brazilian Health System (SUS) between 2008-2013; 2) Estimate the number of cancer patients with palliative care needs. Methods: Quantitative methods were employed, through the analysis of descriptive, exploratory, retrospective, and observational studies of hospitalized cancer patients. Data was collected from the Hospital Information System of Brazilian Health System (SIH/SUS) in the database of the Health Information Department (DATASUS). Results: Between 2008 and 2013, there were almost 4 million hospitalizations (3,701,409) of patients with cancer in Brazil. Of all the hospital admissions of cancer patients, 978,322 (26.4%) were related to clinical intercurrences (complications) of the disease and/or for treatment. In the same period, approximately 7 million deaths were reported to the Brazilian Mortality Information System (SIM), 15.9% (1,091,837) of cancer. The average rate of hospital mortality of clinical cancer intercurrences was three times (21.4%) higher than the mortality of patients admitted for treatment of clinical cancer in general (7.7%). The hospital length of stay (LOS) of general cancer patients was 5.7 days against 7.9 days of clinical cancer intercurrence patients. It was verified that approximately 90% of those admissions registered in the procedure "Treatment of Clinical Intercurrences of Cancer Patient” in Brazil were related to palliative care of terminally ill patients. Conclusion: The analysis of the morbidity and mortality profile of cancer patients suggests that palliative care services should be considered as criteria for the treatment of clinical cancer intercurrences. Further study of the hospital procedure “Treatment of clinical complications of cancer patient” should be considered as a parameter for scaling palliative care services in Brazil.

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