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

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.09.077
• Publication Date: 2021-10-02T09:59:16Z
• Authors: Ivan Ricardo Zimm...; Mauro Niskier San...; Layana Costa Alves; Gustavo Saraiva Frio; Fabrício Vieira C...; Juan José Cortez-...; Everton Nunes da ...; Leonor Maria Pach...
• Keywords: Hospital mortality; Hospitals, Public; SARS-CoV-2; Short Communication; COVID-19; Cause of death; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Unified health system; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; SARS-CoV-2l; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Public Health; Covid-19; Mortalidade - hospitais; Brazil; Sistema Único de Saúde (Brasil)

To describe the profile of hospital deaths in Brazil according to cause of admission during the pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic periods (2020).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.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).COVID-19 was the main cause of death in public hospitals in Brazil in 2020.