Diarrheal diseases and hospitalization of children under five years of age according to population-based surveys in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, in the years 1997 and 2006

The scope of this paper was to assess the temporal and geographical trends of diarrhea and its implications on the demands of hospitalizations of children under five years of age in the state of Pernambuco in 1997 and 2006. Databases of two population-based surveys were assessed with probabilistic samples of 2078 children (1997) and 1650 children (2006) evaluated in 18 municipalities of Pernambuco, including the Metropolitan Region of Recife, Urban Interior and Rural Interior. Prevalence was considered to involve the occurrence of cases on the day or in the two weeks prior to the interview and as admissions, service cases with minimal hospital stay of 24 hours in the period, covering up to one year before the interview. The prevalence of diarrhea in Pernambuco had a statistically non-significant decline (19.8% to 18.1%; p = 0.192). However, a statistically-significant reduction was observed (16.9% to 10.5%; p = 0.003) in the Metropolitan Region of Recife. The number of admissions increased by more than double (2.7% to 5.5% in the State and from 1.6% to 3.8% within the Metropolitan Region of Recife), in contrast with national trends. Therefore, diarrhea in the State appears as the main component of the demands of pediatric hospitalizations during the period under scrutiny.