HOSPITAL MORBIDITY BY LESIONS AND POISONI NGS .2.

Today in Brazil the ''Hospital Internment Authorizations'' (AIH) repre sents about 80% of the total internments in the country and constitute s a data base of easy access available in CD-ROM. This high coverage a llows one to draw a reasonable picture, close to reality, of the morbi dity demanding hospitalization. Among the causes there is the diagnost ic category lesions and poisonings noteworthy for severity and frequen cy. Hospital internments by this diagnostic category occurring in a mo nth in 1994 have been focused on. Some epidemiological and hospital us e characteristics, such as demographic aspects, specific diagnostic ca tegory, length of stay and mortality are described. It was observed th at lesions and poisonings accounted for 5% to 6% of all hospital inter nments in the country, being predominantly among men under 65 of age. This diagnostic category was the first cause of hospital internments a mong men of from 15 to 29 years of age. Fractures were the most freque nt specific diagnosis (about 37.5%), almost all of them involving memb ers (legs or arms). The injuries were mainly located in hands, arms, h ead and neck and occurred predominantly among young men, leading to th e believe that they were due to work or traffic accidents. Regarding b urns, the fregment occurrence among children under 5 years of age is w orthy of note. The authors lament the lack of information as to their causes such as would enable appropriate preventive actions to be taken .