Indução de demanda por cesariana no Brasil: contribuindo com a discussão sob o enfoque da economia da saúde

Abstract

This thesis aims to stimulate the discussion, by means of three independent studies, of the economic-financial impacts of unnecessary cesarean sections in Brazil, estimating the costs, suggesting strategies to decrease this procedure when unnecessary and investigating the hypothesis that obstetricians induces the demand for this surgery. The cesarean sections epidemic is a public health issue that financially burdens both public and private health systems, wasting resources that could be used in a more efficient way. The first study estimates the cost of unnecessary cesarean section in Brazil. Basing on Birth in Brazil research, DATASUS, SIGTAP and UNIDAS data and estimating by logistic regression, it was possible to conclude that the cost of unnecessary cesarean sections is at least R$ 10,5 million in the public sector and R$ 17,6 million in the private sector, representing 1.6% to 6 % of public expenses with this procedure. The second study proposes a change in the obstetric assistance model that involves alteration in the working hours, in the remuneration forms and the increase of penalties to obstetricians, as way to inhibit the practice of demand induction. Starting from literature references, AMB, DATASUS and Birth in Brazil research data, a metric for the obstetrician utility has been attributed and a simulation to sensetize the metrics for remuneration and professional ethics has been used, allowing to observe the effects in the obstetrician decisions. It was concluded that remunerating obstetricians with a fixed wage, puting them in a on call working journey with a collaborative team and increasing penalties for the unethical practice of demand induction are means that can be added to other efforts to fight the epidemic of this surgery in Brazil. The third study has investigated the hypothesis of demand induction for cesarean sections in Brazil. With DATASUS, CFM and Birth in Brazil research data, it was possible to describe behaviors of Brazilian obstetric assistance regarding the amount of births per hour, ethical law suits against obstetricians and the probability of a cesarean section without clinical indication. The conclusions are that the amount of births by cesarean section in Brazil exceeds those of vaginal delivery during business hours, that gynecology-obstetrics is the specialty with the greatest amount of ethical-disciplinary law suits in the CFM, that most CRMs/CFM decisions have a reserved character and that when the labor of women on habitual risk, which started spontaneously, occurs on weekdays and is followed only by an obstetrician, and the obstetrician decided the birth path at the end of gestation, there was a higher chance of a cesarean section, leading to the suspicion of the defensive medicine practice.