Correlation between the implementation of Psychosocial Care Centers and the rates of psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide in Porto Alegre-RS from 2008 to 2018

Introduction: The Brazilian psychiatric reform has revolutionized the way that mental health care is provided throughout the country, introducing the Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPS) and encouraging care in freedom. The CAPS have a lot of objectives, such as the prevention of hospitalizations and crisis or suicide intervention. This paper aims to describe the correlation between the implementation of the CAPS and the rates of psychiatric hospitalizations as well as suicide from 2008 to 2018. Methods: This study has an ecological time series design and included residents in the city of Porto Alegre-RS and users hospitalized in the SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde - Unified Health System). The data were obtained from official database (DATASUS, CNES and IBGE), after calculating the indicators (the CAPS offer, hospitalization rate and suicide rate). Associations between the indicators were tested using Pearson's correlation. Results: We found a negative correlation between the provision of the CAPS and psychiatric hospitalizations (r= -0.607 p=0.048). Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between the implementation of the CAPS and psychiatric hospitalizations. This reinforces the importance of implementing policies related to improving psychiatric reform.