To identify the diseases that lead older persons to hospitalizations in the public health system in the state of Rio de Janeiro and, through a study of spatial distribution among hospitalization rates of the municipal districts, discuss the social contexts involved in the hospitalization of the elderly. Methods: An ecological cross-sectional study using secondary data from the Brazilian hospital information system from the period 2009 to 2015 was performed. The hospitalization rates of people 60 years and older, residing in 92 municipalities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, were calculated. The municipal districts were grouped according to the similarity of such rates using K-means nonhierarchical clustering analysis. Results: Diseases of the circulatory and respiratory systems, endocrine disorders, illnesses of the genitourinary system or the digestive tract, and certain infectious and parasitic diseases were the most discriminatory diseases for cluster composition. The first cluster, the municipal districts with the lowest hospitalization rates, which were more urbanized and had greater access to social and health services, was named Access and Inclusion. The second group, which had the highest hospitalization rates, was named Isolation and Vulnerability. Conclusions: The primary care-sensitive conditions are the main causes of hospitalization of the elderly in the state, with greater intensity in the municipalities that are geographically rugged and remote. These outcomes reinforce the importance of valuing geographical knowledge, the guidelines of the unified health system concerning equity and regionalization, and the determinants and social determinations involved in the process of health and disease.

Contextual variables have been associated with the incidence of stroke, but their association with hospitalization of older persons remains unclear. This study evaluated the association between social context variables and hospitalization of 60 years old and older patients due to stroke in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An ecological cross-sectional study was conducted, with secondary data from the Brazilian Hospital Information System from 2006 to 2014. Hospitalization rates were calculated and categorized by tertiles. For subsequent analyzes, the polar extremes method was used to select the groups with extremes values. After that, Student t or Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the contextual variables and the hospitalization rates clusters. Then, a Binary Logistic Regression analysis was used to assess the association between hospitalization rates clusters and the contextual variables. The total number of hospitalizations was 82 796; the hospitalization rate varied in extremes groups from the lowest (3.49) to the highest (11.95) (p<0.001). The highest rates group was positively associated with the proportion of elderly (p<0.001), the illiteracy rate of the aged (p = 0.01), primary care coverage (p<0.001) and ambulatory care for hypertension and diabetes, while the income ratio showed negative association with the highest rates of hospitalization (p = 0.01). In the multivariate analysis, only the proportion of elderly (OR = 1.55; 95%CI 1.07–2.25), primary care coverage (OR = 1.05; 95%CI 1.01–1.11) and income ratio (OR = 0.82; 95%CI 0.67–0.99) maintained the association. In conclusion, contextual variables in the three dimensions studied were associated with the rate of hospitalization of aged due to stroke in the municipalities in Rio de Janeiro State. Transitional care and other improvements in both the health care and social services are demanded.

Este ensaio crítico foi delineado tendo como objetivo discutir o protagonismo da Atenção Primária à Saúde – APS para a prevenção de internações de pessoas idosas por condições sensíveis à atenção primária. Inicialmente é abordado o conceito de internações por Condições Sensíveis à Atenção Primária – CSAP e fatores associados a tais internações.  A seguir, a cobertura da Estratégia Saúde da Família – ESF como medida para redução de iniquidades em saúde e a rede de atenção à saúde da pessoa idosa são discutidas. Por fim, uma reflexão sobre os desafios para a expansão da APS no país é apresentada. Como conclusão, ressalta-se que para que seu protagonismo seja real é necessário que a APS seja expandida para todo território nacional e, executada pela ESF, cumpra seu papel na redução de iniquidades em saúde. Portanto, o fortalecimento da APS é um caminho que precisa ser seguido para corresponder às expectativas dos usuários e gestores do Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS.