BackgroundThe most prevalent disorders between the chronic diseases are the mental health disorders. Almost 650 million of people in the world suffer of some mental health disorders, which cause serious impact on individual abilities, family relationship and social rehabilitation.AimsWe describe and study the sociodemographic characteristics and the diagnosis of a sample of male and female psychiatric inpatients undergoing treatment in a mental health care center in Brazil.MethodsIt is a descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out with 517 psychiatric inpatients from a Brazilian health institution – IMAS Nise da Silveira. Data was collected from January to December 2014 and occurred through consultation of the patients’ hospital notes. Univariate analysis was used for the data collection and analysis.ResultsOur sample was composed by 52.6% (n = 272) of men and 47.4% of women (n = 245); 50.5% were over 40 years old and have a long time of hospitalization. Overall, 64.6% had schizophrenia; 27.2% mood [affect] disorders; 3.7% mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use; 1.4% mental retartation; 0.4% personality disorders; 0.2% disorders of psychological development.ConclusionThe profile could advance the mental health care and rehabilitation of these people. Although could improve public policies.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.