Time trends in hospitalizations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions among children under five years old in Ceará, Brazil, 2000-2012.

OBJECTIVE: to analyze time trends and describe the causes of hospitalizations for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) in children under five years old in Ceará, Brazil, 2000-2012. METHODS: this is an ecological time series study using data from the National Hospital Information System; trends were analyzed using Prais-Winsten regression. RESULTS: from 2000 and 2016 ACSC hospitalization rates fell from 32.5 to 11.2/1,000 inhabitants under five years old (annual variation of -16.8%; 95%CI -20.6;-10.9); the cause groups with the largest reductions were nutritional deficiencies (-94.7%), infectious gastroenteritis (-52.6%), asthma (-59.0%) and bacterial pneumonias (-8.9%); the greatest reduction was found in the post-neonatal component (-22.4%); the hospitalization rate for prenatal and childbirth-related diseases increased 15 times among children under one year old. CONCLUSION: despite reduced ACSC hospitalization rates, preventable conditions were found that may reflect gaps in Primary Health Care.