Between Suffering and Silence: Mental Health Hospitalizations after the Brumadinho Dam Disaster

yeda endrigo , Unicamp

On 25 January 2019, the Brumadinho tailings-dam collapse triggered one of Brazil's deadliest technological disasters. Beyond immediate mortality, large-scale disruption may affect population mental health, particularly among women and vulnerable groups. However, quantitative studies addressing hospital admissions for mental disorders after mining disasters remain scarce, despite qualitative evidence of severe psychosocial impacts. This study examines variations in psychiatric hospitalizations (ICD-10 F00–F99) in municipalities affected by the Brumadinho disaster, using data from Brazil's Hospital Information System (SIH/SUS) from 2010 to 2023. A difference-in-differences (DiD) design with municipality and year fixed effects compares pre- and post-disaster trends between affected and non-affected municipalities in the Paraopeba River Basin. Results show no significant aggregate increase in hospital admissions for mental and behavioral disorders in affected municipalities after the collapse. However, stratified analyses revealed a significant decrease in admissions among young adult males aged 15–39 years, alongside non-significant downward trends among girls aged 0–14 years. This absence of measurable increases may reflect structural barriers to care access, underreporting in administrative systems, institutional collapse following the disaster, or a fundamental mismatch between hospital-based indicators and the lived mental-health impacts of technological disasters. The observed reductions in certain subgroups suggest potential changes in care-seeking patterns, stigma, labor-related migration, or prioritization of adult care following system reorganization. The study highlights a critical gap in quantitative assessments of mental-health consequences following technological disasters. The statistical invisibility of psychosocial suffering in hospital data underscores the need for integrated surveillance systems capable of capturing gender-differentiated, age-specific, and non-hospital mental health outcomes.

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 Presented in Session 93. Social Inequalities in Morbidity and Disparities in Mental Health