[Computerized tomography utilization for stroke inpatients in the Brazilian Health System].

Stroke is a leading reason for hospitalization in the Brazilian Health System. Computerized tomography has been indicated as the main diagnostic method to define stroke treatment. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the utilization of computerized tomography in hospitalizations due to stroke. The source of data was the Brazilian hospital information system. The study population comprised adult stroke inpatients in Brazil in the Brazilian Health System, between April 2006 and December 2007. Data analysis was descriptive for stroke and for each separate subgroup. Of the 328,087 stroke inpatients, 73.5% had not done a computerized tomography scan. Among hospitalizations that underwent a computed tomography scan, 22.3% had access to one test, and only 4.2% had two tests. Besides underuse, the computed tomography scans performed did not improve the encoding of the disease subgroup.