Morbidity from acute upper respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age

Abstract

Introduction: acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the most frequent cause in paediatric consultations. Objective: to characterize the behavior of morbidity due to upper respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age, in the respiratory service of the Pediatric Teaching Hospital "General Luis Ángel Milanés Tamayo", from January to March 2019. Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. The universe consisted of 172 children who entered in this period and the sample after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria was made up of 74 children. The data processing was carried out using the EPIDAT version 3.1 program, as a word processor, theoretical, empirical and statistical methods were used. Results: children under 1 year of age (51.3%), male sex (64.8%), hospital stay was generally less than 3 days (64.8%) urban origin (67.5%), acute rhinopharyngitis as the most frequent HAA (74.3%) and exposure to secondhand smoke as the main predisposing factor (56.7%). Conclusions: it was concluded that in the study predominated children under 1 year, the male sex, the hospital stay was generally less than 3 days, urban origin, acute rhinopharyngitis as the most frequent HAIS, exposure to passive smoke as the main associated risk factor.