The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on unilateral inguinal hernioplasty surgery in Brazil.

Objective: to analyze data from patients hospitalized for unilateral inguinal hernioplasty in Brazil in the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the period of the pandemic.

Methods: this is a descriptive study, using data referring to hospitalizations for the surgical procedure of unilateral inguinal hernioplasty in Brazil from March 2019 to February 2020, comparing with data from March 2020 to February 2021. Data were collected from the Hospital Information System (SIH/SUS) and the selected variables were: number of hospitalizations, average hospital stay rate and mortality rate.