Hospital morbidity from nervous system diseases in the pediatric population in the Brazilian health system

Background: Hospital morbidity corresponds to the percentage distribution of hospital admission by groups of selected causes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the hospitalizations for diseases of the nervous system in the pediatric population in Brazil from 2010 to 2019.

Methods: An ecological study was carried out in July 2022 from the health information of the Brazilian Health Unified System databases. All hospital pediatric admissions resulting from the international classification of diseases (ICD), chapter VI in Brazil from 2010 to 2019 were included. The main variables analyzed were sex, age (0-14), elective or urgency character, regime of hospitalization and geographic region. Descriptive statistics were performed though absolute (n) and relative (%) frequencies.

Results: A total of 387,472 hospital admissions were identified for diseases of the nervous system in children, with an increase from 36,386 in 2010 to 43,722 in 2019. Most patients were male (55.1%), aged between 1 and 4 years old (33.9%) and urgent service (80%). Most frequent comorbidities, according to the ICD, were epilepsy (53.2%), other diseases of the nervous system (28.5%) and cerebral paralysis and other paralytic syndromes (7.7%). The largest number of hospitalizations occurred in the Southeast (38.8%), followed by the Northeast (27.6%), South (18.9%), Central-West (8.5%) and North (6.2%).

Conclusions: There was an increase in hospitalizations for diseases of the nervous system in the pediatric population, with emphasis on the number of emergency care. In order to reduce hospitalizations, it is necessary to expand the screening and early diagnosis of such diseases.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

Publication History

Article published online:
18 September 2023