The Impact of the Articulation of Different Health Services on Hospitalizations for Heart Failure

Abstract Background: This study questions the influence of the typology of the health region on heart failure hospitalizations. Methods: This is an ecological study on Hospitalizations due to Heart Failure based on the analysis of the incidence of hospitalizations and the typology of the Health Region. Ecological studies correspond to a research design that has as its unit of analysis groups of individuals (called aggregates) and not isolated individuals. In this case, the object of this study is a group of health regions and the cities that constitute these health regions. The data were then explored through cluster analysis. Results: The Jales Health Region is made up of 16 cities, including the city of Jales, which gives its name to the health region, which accounted for 36.97% of the 522 hospitalizations for heart failure recorded in the Region in 2008. The coefficient of hospitalizations for heart failure in the Jales Region was 49.27 hospitalizations per 10,000 inhabitants of the region. The Health Region is made up of 8 cities, including the city of Tupã, which accounted for 44.33% of the total of 609 hospitalizations for heart failure in the Health Region.