Epidemiological profile of hospitalizations for epilepsy in Northeastern Brazil

Background: Epilepsy is a temporary and reversible change in brain function, which is not caused by fever, drugs or metabolic disorders, and its different symptoms may require hospitalization for seizure control. Objective: To describe the epidemiological profile of patients with epilepsy hospitalized in Northeastern Brazil, from 2011 to 2020. Design and setting: This is an ecological study placed in Northeastern Brazil. Methods: Data were obtained from Brazilian Health Informatics Department - DATASUS (Hospital Information System). Epilepsy was the morbidity selected. Data were collected by year, age, sex and state and processed through Microsoft Excel. Results: There were 108,804 hospitalizations for epilepsy in Northeast Brazil from 2011 to 2020 (mean annual: 10,880.4 ± 1,653.7). There were most hospitalizations for epilepsy in 2019 (12.7%, n=13,806) and the lowest in 2012 (8.1%, n=8,842). An increase was noticed from 2012 to 2019, followed by a 13.8% decrease in 2020 (n=11,803). Males were most hospitalized (58.7%, n=63,900). Children between 0 to 9 years (38.6%, n=41,998) were the most hospitalized, followed by 10 to 19 years (13.8%, n=15,025), whereas eldery aged 80 years or older were the least frequently hospitalized (3.6%, n=3,917). Bahia (27.7%, n=30,120) and Pernambuco (27.6%, n=30,037) showed the highest ratios of hospitalizations, while Sergipe recorded the lowest ratio (2.3%, n=2,499). Conclusion: Hospitalizations for epilepsy in Northeastern Brazil from 2011 to 2020 were most frequently in males, aged 0 to 9 years, living in Bahia.