Wheezing and asthma epidemiology in infants and preschoolers

Abstract

In Chile, there is a lack of information about wheezing and asthma epidemiology in children under 5 years of age.

Objective: To determine at the national level the hospitalization and mortality rates in children aged under 5 years with diagnosis of acute bronchitis and asthma.

Patients and Method: Hospitalization rates were made using discharge data provided by the Department of Health Statistics and Information, selecting only those corresponding to the ICD10 codes for asthma and acute bronchitis. Population sizes of those at risk of hospitalization were obtained from projections of the National Institute of Statistics. The mortality rate was obtained by calculating the quotient between the number of deaths due to acute bronchitis and asthma in children under 5 years of age and the exposed population. The evolution of the global and regional hospitalization rates from 2002 to 2017 was studied.

Results: Most of the patients who were hospitalized had a diagnosis of acute bronchitis (93,6%), were under two years old, were male, and were hospitalized in winter. During the analyzed period, the acute bronchitis hospitalization rate dropped from 79.7 to 56.1 per 10,000 inhabitants, meanwhile, the asthma hospitalization rate increased from 2.4 to 7.6 per 10,000 inhabitants. The mortality rate in patients with acute bronchitis was 0.52 per 100,000 inhabitants. No mortality was observed in patients diagnosed with asthma.

Conclusions: During the analyzed period, a significant reduction in hospitalization rate due to acute bronchitis was observed in children aged under 5 years, with a low mortality rate.