Research reveals that children up to 5 years old die more from dengue

Survey

Data includes 10 epidemiological weeks of 2024, until March 9

In Brazil, children under five die most from dengue, followed by those aged five to nine. Adolescents between 10 and 14 years old have the highest number of cases recorded this year. The numbers are from the survey by the Childhood Health Observatory (Observa Infância), from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), based in Rio de Janeiro.

Observa Infância evaluated data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sinan) of the Ministry of Health from the first 10 epidemiological weeks of 2024, until March 9.

According to the coordinator of Observa Infância, Cristiano Boccolini, in the research it was observed that, despite concentrating the lowest number of cases among children, the age group between zero and five years old was the one that has so far concentrated most fatal victims of the most serious forms of the disease. disease, followed by the range between five and nine. For him, it is important that families take their children to be vaccinated and that everyone continues to take the possible prophylactic measures.

“The Ministry of Health is right to vaccinate the group where we are seeing the most cases. Our recommendation is that immunization extends to the youngest children, aged five to nine, who, proportionally, are dying more”,

said Boccolini.

According to the study, 239,402 cases were reported across the country in children up to 14 years old, with the highest incidence among adolescents aged 10 to 14 years old, with 24.5% in children under five years old, 33.7% between five and nine years old and 41.8% from 10 to 14 years old.

Deaths

As for deaths, the situation is reversed: there were 52 deaths – 16 of them confirmed and 36 under investigation – due to dengue in children under 14 years of age in the period. Of this total, 44.2% of the victims were under five years old, while the five to nine year old group represented 32.7% of deaths and the 10 to 14 year old group corresponded to 23.1% of deaths, which shows a gradual decrease in the proportion of deaths with increasing age.

The survey warns of a 21.2% increase in the number of deaths in the tenth epidemiological week compared to the previous one, which demonstrates the need to reinforce disease prevention measures, according to Fiocruz.

Observa Infância also analyzed lethality, which measures the number of deaths in relation to the total number of cases, among children aged zero to 14. When researching only confirmed cases, the fatality rate is 6.7 deaths for every 100,000 cases of dengue in the country.

The lethality rate for the under-five age group is five times higher compared to the 10 to 14 year old age group. Furthermore, confirmed lethality in children aged five to nine is three times higher than that observed among adolescents aged 10 to 14.

Scientific divulgation

The Childhood Health Observatory (Observa Infância) is a scientific dissemination initiative to bring data and information about the health of children up to five years of age to society’s attention.

The goal is to expand access to qualified information and facilitate understanding of data obtained from national information systems.

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