OBJECTIVE: Despite the importance of external causes as a public health problem, little is known about the demand for emergency services. This study aims to characterize the morbidity due to external causes in emergency units of Cuiabá/MT. METHOD: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study. We analyzed 3,786 victims of external causes seen at five emergency units of Cuiabá/MT Health Department in the period from May 1 to June 30, 2005. RESULTS: Approximately 88% of cases involved victims of accidents, 9% were victims of assault, and 2% were victims of self-injury. Transportation accidents accounted for 22% of cases, whose main victims were motorcyclists (49%); falls were the most frequent causes in the group of other external causes of accidental injuries. The prevalence in men surpassed that of women. Most of the victims were younger than 40 years (79%). However, the analysis by type of external cause presents different results by gender and age. Nearly half of the events occurred at home, most of the victims were discharged after treatment, and the mortality rate was low (0.4%). CONCLUSION: The results show the importance of the systematic analysis of data on victims of accidents and violence seen at emergency services, to add information on hospital mortality and morbidity aimed at the surveillance of these causes.
External Causes; Accidents; Violence; Morbidity; Emergency; Information System
