Mortality from mental and behavioral disorders in Brazil: an ecological study

Abstract

Introduction: there are many distinct mental disorders, with different presentations. They are generally characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts, perceptions, emotions, behavior, and relationships with others. Mental disorders include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, substance abuse disorders, psychosis in general, dementia, and developmental disorders, including autism. Even so, it is one of the areas that receives the least attention and funding from public health. Around 1 billion people live with a mental disorder, 3 million people lose their lives every year due to harmful alcohol use, and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide. Objective: to analyze mortality due to mental and behavioral disorders in Brazil from 2009 to 2019. Method: this is a cross-sectional, observational, ecological epidemiological study using official data from the Mortality Information System (MSS) and the Hospital Information System. Data were collected by place of occurrence and place of residence among patients in Brazil from 2009 to 2019. Hospital Admission Authorization Forms and Admission Notification Forms were included. The data source was the Death Certificate. Results: analyzing mortality due to mental and behavioral disorders between the sexes, it was noted that only male patients showed a reduction in the rate in all Brazilian regions, highlighting the Northeast (β = -0.27, p = 0.001), Southeast (β = -0.20, p = 0.003) and South (β = -0.19, p = 0.023) regions, which showed significant reductions. When making a comparison in the studied series, both sexes showed a reduction, but only the male sex had a significant decline (male: β = -0.20, p = 0.001; female: β = -0.03, p = 0.146). Conclusion: mortality from mental and behavioral disorders revealed higher rates in 2011 (7,376), corresponding to a greater proportion of males (11.25), especially single individuals, in all regions of the Brazilian federation unit. Regarding the total analysis of deaths in the study series, there was an increase in mortality among females, with prevalence in the Northeast Region and in widowed marital status.