Perfil de morbilidad pediátrica ambulatoria en Consultorios del Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Norte

Abstract

This report describes a sample of 5.461 pediatric consultations, part of the total of 155.934 attended during 1982 by the non municipalized northern Metropolitan Health Service of Santiago. This confirms that one consultation from four ones has been produced for infants under one year of age.
In half of cases the diagnosis corresponds to"Diseases of Respiratory System" the most part of which include Bronchitis and Colds. This group diminish its important with the age of the child.
20 per cent correspond to infectious and parasitic, mainly Diarrhea and Intestinal Parasitism.
Diseases of the Nervous System, of Sense Organs and of the skin are in third and fourth place, respectively. Among the first place are the otitis, conjunctivitis and epilepsy, and among the second place, Dermatitis and Prurigo. These two groups increase in importance with the age of infants.
Significative differences have not been found in the Centers of Primary Health studied. The Diagnosis of "Infection of Urinary vias" corresponds to the two thirds of the group of "Diseases of the genito-urinary apparatus" and can be systematically found in all the Centers analized, but in three of these have percentages from 72.2 to 92.99 Although the structure of these diagnosis does not bring new contribution, it can be infered that Diarrhea continue to be the most important cause for the demand of medical attention.