Impact of nonpharmacological COVID-19 interventions in hospitalizations
for pneumonia in Brazil
Abstract
Background and Objective: The knowledge about the impact of the
nonpharmacological measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic can give
insight to ways in which they can also be applied for other respiratory
diseases. To assess the impact of containment measures of the COVID-19
pandemic on pneumonia hospitalizations in children from 0 to 14 years of
age in Brazil. Methods: Data from hospital admissions for pneumonia were
obtained from the Department of Informatics of Brazilian Public Health
System database in the period of 2015–2020 and analyzed by
macro-regions and age groups. To evaluate the effect of containment
measures, used in the pandemic, on the incidence of pneumonia, the
absolute reduction and relative reduction were calculated by analyzing
the subsets 2015-2019 vs 2020. Results: Comparing the subsets of
April-August 2015-2019 vs April-August 2020, there was an expressive
reduction in the average incidence of hospitalizations, with numbers
ranging from -87% [IRR 0.12 (0.10 to 0.14)] for < 4
years, -79% [IRR 0.21 (0.07 to 0.57)] for 5-9 years, -73% [IRR
0.26 (0.05 to 1.21)] for 10-14 and -86% [IRR 0.14 (0.06 to 0.29)]
for <14 years. Conclusion: We found a significant decrease in
cases of pneumonia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonpharmacological
public health interventions can contribute to the decline of other
respiratory infectious diseases.