Original Articles August 01, 2011 August 01, 2011

Demand profile and morbidity among patients treated at service of ophthalmic urgencies in a university hospital

DOI: 10.1590/S0034-72802011000400007

OBJECTIVE: Establish an epidemiological analysis of patients assisted in an urgency service of a university eye hospital (Hospital São Geraldo). METHODS: This is a prospective and descriptive study, conducted from september 2005 to january 2006. A questionnaire was used for the purpose of gathering daily information about all the patients assisted in the service. Information was collected on age, sex, occupation, ethnicity, origin of the patient, primary diagnosis (according to International Classification of Disease ICD 10 ) and the approaches adopted. RESULTS: 8.346 patients were assisted, 3.819 female (45,79%) and 4.521 male (54,20%). The ages ranged from 0 to 100 years and the most common group of occupations was general services (24,20%). The most frequent diagnosis was conjunctivitis (27,91%). The most common measure taken was the drug treatment (65,5%). CONCLUSION: The majority of treatment was classified as urgency. The non-traumatic causes were the most frequent diseases. São Geraldo Hospital plays an important role, as a public service, in treating ophthalmic urgencies of Belo Horizonte region and surrounding towns.