Spatiotemporal analysis of outpatient physiotherapy services in primary health care

Abstract

Introduction: Assessing the health situation through outpatient production is one of the tools used to complement the construction of an adequate health action plan that aims to meet the real needs of the population. Objective: To analyze the spatio-temporal distribution of outpatient physiotherapy production in Primary Health Care in Brazil and its geographic regions from 2008 to 2022. Methods: This is an analytical ecological study of a time series of secondary data from the Health System. Ambulatory information and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to identify differences in outpatient production between regions per year and joinpoint regression to estimate the temporal trend between 2008 and 2022. Results: The South region had the highest outpatient production rates compared to the others regions of Brazil in six consecutive years, from 2013 to 2022, except in 2016. The temporal trend in Brazil and in the North, Northeast and Central-West regions remained stationary between 2008 and 2022. However, in the Southeast and South regions there was significant growth in 12.3% and 6.4% in consultations, respectively. The spatial distribution by septenniums demonstrated high rates of outpatient services in the South region in 2015 and 2022. Conclusion: The temporal trend of outpatient physiotherapy services in Primary Care in Brazil and the North, Northeast and Central-West regions was stationary, while the Southeast and South were increasing in the period from 2008 to 2022.