Objectives: to determine the prevalence of bronchopulmonary aspiration in the Brazilian scenario, the factors associated with the incident and the variables associated with death.
Methods: a cross-sectional and analytical study, carried out from analysis of notifications of incidents related to bronchopulmonary aspiration of the Health Surveillance Notification System, from January 2014 to December 2018.
Results: of the 264,590 notifications, 553 referred to aspiration, whose prevalence rate was 0.21%. There was an association between the event and age, ethnicity, main medical diagnosis, country region, service type, health unit and consequences for patients. Furthermore, four independent predictor variables for death were found: living in the North or South regions, being elderly and receiving healthcare at night.
Conclusions: the prevalence rate of bronchopulmonary aspiration was small, but with a negative impact on patients.