Trends in elderly psychiatric admissions to the Brazilian public health care system.

Objective:: To evaluate trends in psychiatric bed occupancy by elderly inpatients in the Brazilian public health care system between 2000 and 2010 and to determine the leading psychiatric diagnosis for hospital admissions.

Methods:: Data from all 895,476 elderly psychiatric admissions recorded in the Brazilian Public Health Care Database (DATASUS) between January 2000 and February 2010 were analyzed. Polynomial regression models with estimated curve models were used to determine the trends.