Hospitalizations and deaths due to pertussis in children from 1996 to 2013.

OBJECTIVES To assess temporal trends of hospitalizations and deaths from pertussis in Brazilian children in the period of 1996-2013. METHODS This was a descriptive ecological study of temporal trends, based on the DATASUS database. The number of hospitalizations and deaths from pertussis in children up to 19 years of age from January 1996 to December 2013 was obtained. Descriptive statistics were applied for data analysis. RESULTS During the study period, a total of 19,047 hospital admissions from pertussis were recorded, of which 88.2% occurred in infants younger than 1 year. In the period 1996-2010, the mean annual number of admissions was 755, ranging from a maximum of 1179 in 2004 to a minimum of 400 in 2010. There was an increase of admissions in the last three consecutive years (2011, 2012, and 2013) with 1177, 2954 and 3589 hospitalizations, respectively. There were 498 deaths from pertussis throughout the study period, of which 96.8% occurred in children younger than one year. There was an increase in the number of deaths from pertussis in children in the years 2011, 2012, and 2013, with 40, 93, and 87 recorded deaths, respectively. The increase in hospitalizations and deaths from pertussis in children occurred in all regions of the country, with the highest increase observed in the Southeast, North and Northeast regions. CONCLUSIONS There was a substantial increase in hospitalizations and deaths from pertussis in children for three consecutive years (2011, 2012, and 2013) in all Brazilian regions. The most affected age group was that of children younger than one year.