Assessing morbidity in the paediatric community

Abstract

VOLUME 33 NÚMERO 4 AGOSTO 1999© Copyright Faculdade de Saúde Pública da USP. Proibida a reprodução mesmo que parcial sem a devida autorização do Editor Científico. Proibida a utilização de matérias para fins comerciais. All rights reserved. Morbidity information is easily available from medical records but its scope is limited to the population attended by the health services. Information on the prevalence of diseases requires community surveys, which are not always feasible. These two sources of information represent two alternative assessments of disease occurrence, namely demand morbidity and perceived morbidity. The present study was conceived so as to elicit a potential relationship between them so that the former could be used in the absence of the latter. Methods A community of 13,365 families on the outskirts of S. Paulo, Brazil, was studied during the period from 15/Nov/1994 to 15/Jan/1995. Data regarding children less than 5 years old were collected from a household survey and from the 2 basic health units in the area. Prevalence of diseases was ascertained from perceived morbidity and compared to estimates computed from demand morbidity. Revista de Saúde Pública ResultsData analysis distinguished 2 age groups, infants less than 1 year old and children 1 to less than 5. The most important groups of diseases were respiratory diseases, diarrhoea, skin problems and infectious & parasitical diseases. Basic health units presented a better coverage for infants. Though disease frequencies were not different within or outside these units, a better coverage was found for diarrhoea and infectious & parasitical diseases in the infant group, and for diarrhoea in the older age group. Equivalence between the two types of morbidity was found to be limited to the infant group and concerned only the best covered diseases. The odds of a disease being seen at the health service should be of at least 4:10 to ensure this equivalence. ConclusionIt was concluded that, provided that health service coverage is good, demand morbidity can be taken as a reliable estimate of community morbidity.

Infectious Disease Morbidity Among Young HIV-1–Exposed But Uninfected Infants in Latin American and Caribbean Countries: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development International Site Development Initiative Perinatal Study

“…23 In addition, although the incidence of diarrhea and gastroenteritis (7.1%) among HIV-1-uninfected infants in our study, who did not have the benefits of breastfeeding, 24,25 was similar to the estimates for Brazilian infants born to HIV-1-uninfected mothers, 26 it was much lower than that (35%) found for infants Ͻ6 months of age in Brazilian urban slums 27 and that (30%) for HIV-1-uninfected infants from South Africa. 28 All HIV-1-exposed infants enrolled in the NISDI Perinatal Study had replacement feeding ensured and special attention regarding hygienic measures for formula preparation, which might have affected positively the incidence and severity of diarrhea but not oral candidiasis among these infants.…”

“…Our findings of any respiratory infection for 150 of the studied infants (32.5%) was higher than that in a Brazilian community-based study (20%). 26 Although there is the possibility of recall bias with respect to upper respiratory tract infections, this is much less likely for lower respiratory tract infections. Recent data from community based-studies regarding lower respiratory tract infection rates in normal, HIV-1-unexposed infants are not available.…”

Lower respiratory tract infections among human immunodeficiency virus-exposed, uninfected infants

“…Although a control group of infants born to HIV-uninfected mothers was not available in our study, a comparison with the most recent available data from a Brazilian community-based study 15 showed that the frequency of LRTI in the NISDI cohort of HIV-uninfected infants was similar to the 20% prevalence of all respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in infants. However, this study 15 did not differentiate between LRTI and upper RTI.…”

Uso de medicamentos do nascimento aos dois anos: Coorte de Nascimentos de Pelotas, RS, 2004

“…These same diseases showed the highest prevalence among children aged one to four years; however, the frequency of infectious diseases increased. 9 The English study 12 of symptoms and medical appointments among preschool children found that the most frequent symptoms across three age groups (< six months; six to 17 months; 18 to 29 months) were those related to the respiratory system (cold and cough), the frequency of which increases with age. Symptoms related to alimentary tract and metabolism (cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting) were more frequent among younger children.…”