The impacto of climate change on the demand of children and adolescents for emergency services

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of climatic variations on the demand of children and adolescents in emergency services. METHODS: Ecological study conducted in a city countryside of São Paulo, which analysis of 39,336 emergency room visits in 2018 and correlation with meteorological data obtained from the meteorological station of the College of Agronomic Sciences of the municipality. Poisson regression models were fitted considering the season, temperature, relative humidity and precipitation. RESULTS: The greatest demand for care was in the age group between 0 and 5 years (65.2%) with acute nasopharyngitis (8.7%) being the most frequent morbidity, followed by unspecified fever (6.1%); acute upper airway infection: 5.5%; acute tonsillitis: 5.2%; nausea and vomiting: 5%; diarrhea and gastroenteritis: 4.8%; cough: 4.6%; asthma: 4.2%; bronchopneumonia: 2.9% and acute pain: 2.4%. In summer, the most frequent morbidities were fever and diarrhea; in autumn: acute nasopharyngitis; in winter: IVA and fever; in spring: fever, acute nasopharyngitis. Acute nasopharyngitis, acute upper airway infection and bronchopneumonia mainly affect younger children and these diseases are more likely to occur at lower temperatures and in low air humidity. CONCLUSIONS: There is a different frequency of morbidities in the different seasons of the year, as the chance of occurrence change depending on age, average temperature, average humidity and has no correlation with precipitation. Therefore, from the analysis of the climate, health services can anticipate to promote preventive measures and meet a greater or lesser demand of patients.