Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of care in the emergency department of otorhinolaryngology at a high complexity hospital in Sao Paulo over a 12-month period.
Method: Epidemiological, cross-sectional study, with data collection carried out from medical records of the emergency department of otorhinolaryngology of a high complexity hospital in Sao Paulo, for a period of 12 months. Data collected were: age, sex, clinical diagnosis, and management. The cases were divided by subspecialty: otology, rhinology, pharyngolaryngoesthomatology, and head and neck surgery. Level of urgency/emergency, etiology, and monthly distribution of visits were evaluated.
Results: A total of 18,279 medical records were obtained, and 2639 were excluded. Of the 15,640 cases included, the average age was 36.3 years; 54.49% were women and 45.50% were men. A total of 9818 (62.77%) corresponded to cases considered as emergency/urgency. Among the urgency/emergency cases, 6422 (65.41%) were diagnosis in otology, 1767 (17.99%) in rhinology, 1453 (14.79%) in pharyngolaryngoesthomatology, and 176 (1.79%) in head and neck surgery. Inflammatory and infectious diseases comprised 65.04% among the urgency/emergency cases.
Conclusion: Among the attendances in the emergency department of otolaryngology evaluated in this study, 62.77% corresponded to cases of urgency/emergency, predominantly in the otology subspecialty. Inflammatory and infectious diseases comprised most cases.
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