OBJECTIVE: To analyze the profile of children and adolescents' hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases in São Paulo (SP), Brazil. METHODS: This is an ecological time series study. Data was obtained on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision: J00-J99) in hospitals under the Brazilian Unified Health System located in São Paulo between 2000 and 2004. Main characteristics of the temporal distribution of respiratory morbidity in childhood and adolescence by age and cause are described. RESULTS: Pneumonia and bronchopneumonia (51%), asthma (18%) and acute and chronical diseases from upper airways (10%) accounted for most of the admissions. Children up to five years are most frequently hospitalized, regardless of the specific cause. Among adolescents, the main causes of hospitalization were respiratory diseases that affects mainly the interstitial lung (0.1%) and the necrotic and suppurative diseases of lower airways (0.2%). From the age of six to ten years, admissions for acute and chronic diseases from upper airways (10%) were predominant. The peak of morbidity occurs in early autumn. There was a trend towards increasing hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses during the analyzed period. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in children and adolescents is dependent on age and season. The younger the age the greater the number of hospital admissions.
respiratory tract diseases; hospitalization; child; adolescent
