Care-seeking as a proxy indicator of the mental health of elderly brazilians

Abstract

Objective: To assess a large set of metadata made public by the Brazilian Ministry of Health on older subjects who visited outpatient mental health services in Brazil from 2008 to 2012. Methods: We extracted data from the Brazilian Unified Health System Information Technology Department (Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde, DATASUS), then calculated rates of visits per population in each of the five regions of Brazil, using census data for each year. Finally, logistic regressions were performed with depressive disorders or dementias as dependent variables, controlled by age and year of visit, stratified by region. Results: Mood disorders were the leading reason for visits t..