Oral and pharyngeal cancer-related hospitalizations of adults in the brazilian public healthcare system

Abstract

Oral and pharyngeal cancer poses a significant public health challenge due to its impact on quality of life and the burden on healthcare systems. This study aimed to analyze hospitalizations of adults due to this condition in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) between 2015 and 2024. An ecological, longitudinal, and retrospective time-series study was conducted. Data on hospitalizations of adult patients (20–59 years) diagnosed with oral and pharyngeal cancer were extracted. The significance level was set at 5%. During the study period, 119,556 hospitalizations were recorded, with an incidence of 98.7 per 100,000 inhabitants/year. The majority of admissions were urgent (54.6%). The average length of hospital stay was 5.6 days, and total expenditures over the study period reached R$ 252,273,101.15. The hospital mortality rate was 10.5%. Over the last ten years, a decreasing trend was observed in hospitalization incidence, average length of stay, and hospitalization costs (all p-values <0.05). Compared to other age groups, adults exhibited an intermediate incidence of hospitalizations and hospital mortality rates, lower than those of older adults but higher than those of children and adolescents (all p-values <0.05). These findings indicate that a significant number of adult hospitalizations due to oral and pharyngeal cancer were recorded in SUS over the last decade, which differs from the pattern observed in other age groups.

Keywords: Hospitalization; Public health services; Adults; Oral neoplasms; Pharyngeal neoplasms.