Abstract

There is evidence that multidisciplinary care improves quality of life and there is a growing appreciation of public policies in Brazil that favor home care with a multidisciplinary team in chronic diseases. This study aimed to determine the epidemiological profile of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Federal District and the impact of tertiary reference center creation on patient care. A descriptive, cross-sectional study analyzing secondary data regarding mortality and hospitalizations for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients over 10 years and clinical and epidemiological profiles of patients evaluated at the Center of Reference for Neuromuscular Disease over three years was used. An incidence rate of 1.3/100,000 person-years over 20 years and an age at onset of 49.3 ± 15.1 years (Hospital Information System) and 57.2 ± 12.3 years (at the Center admission) was observed. The risk of death was greater in patients older than 75 years (RR = 4.05, p = 0.0018) and in bulbar-onset patients (RR = 2.53, p = 0.0027). Multidisciplinary care reduced 75% of hospitalization frequency and length of stay (p = 0.03) and 80 to 90% of the reimbursement value of hospitalization (p = 0.05). The adoption of multidisciplinary care has improved the efficiency of patient care for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Brazilian public health system.

Key words: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multidisciplinary care, public health.