[Use of Datasus to evaluate psychiatric inpatient care patterns in Southern Brazil]

To describe the construction and testing of a routine to assess psychiatric hospitalizations in the Brazilian Health System based on its database (DATASUS), and to assess characteristics and trends of these hospitalizations.

Data were extracted from hospital admission authorizations in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, from 2000 to 2004. Data from 91,233 admissions were processed through a routine (syntaxes) using SPSS program and their reliability was tested. Hospitalization rates in general and psychiatric hospitals and main diagnoses were described, and trends were analyzed using polynomial regression models.

Intra and inter-rater reliabilities were 100%. There was seen a trend of increasing hospitalization rates due to mood disorders and decreasing rates due to schizophrenia and organic disorders. Hospitalization rates due to substance use disorders remained stable. There was an increasing trend in the number of psychiatric hospitalizations in general hospitals with a 97.7% growth in the period studied.

Routines proved to be reliable and feasible, suggesting the use of data from Hospital Information System database as a source of information for continuous evaluation of psychiatric hospitalizations in Brazilian Health System. Psychiatric hospitalization rates may have changed due to changes in the type of patients; diagnostic patterns, known as treatment-oriented diagnostic bias; and legislation.