NEONATAL TETANUS: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PROFILE IN THE LAST 5 YEARS

Abstract

Neonatal tetanus can affect newborns during their first 28 days of life. The disease manifests itself a few days after childbirth with crying, irritability, and progressive difficulty in breastfeeding. According to studies, it is a frequent disease in needy populations, who have impaired access to healthcare facilities. The aim of this study was to analyze neonatal tetanus cases from December 2015 to December 2020 and its repercussions in Brazilian regions. Cross-sectional, observational, and descriptive study, carried out through a survey of data present on the DATASUS website, analyzing the number of admissions; average stay; mortality rate, in the time interval from December 2015 to December 2020 in relation to morbidity from ICD-10 neonatal tetanus. During the time interval from December 2015 to December 2020, in Brazil, there were a total of 37 hospitalizations due to neonatal tetanus. In the case of average stay days, the Northeast region has the highest value, with 11.2, followed by the South region with 8.0. Regarding the mortality rate, only the Northeast (16%) and Southeast (50%) regions have data present in DATASUS. Neonatal tetanus remains a major public health problem; it is a disease that affects populations in poor living conditions, where access to health facilities is difficult. It is one of the most underreported diseases in Brazil. As it is a disease with a severe prognosis, it demands hospitalization and intensive care. Neonatal tetanus is an underreported pathology, hampering studies on its distribution and morbidity in the country. The northeast of the country suffers from the highest number of hospitalizations and average length of stay due to the precarious conditions of some municipalities, however the Southeast region leads in relation to the mortality rate.