Asthma mortality among Brazilian children up to 19 years old between 1980 and 2007.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate asthma mortality among Brazilian children up to 19 years old in 1980 to 2007. METHODS This ecological time-series study used the database of the Brazilian Unified Health System, from which data were collected about the number of asthma deaths and the population under 19 years of age in Brazil. Mortality rates were calculated as the number of asthma deaths divided by population and multiplied by 100,000. Linear regression was used to assess the trend of mortality. For the analysis, participants were assigned to three separate age groups: 1-4 years, 5-9 years and 10-19 years. RESULTS During the study period, there were 9,051 deaths due to asthma in children under 19 years of age. Of these, 69% (6,270 records) of the children were younger than 5 years. There was a significant decrease in asthma mortality during the study in all age groups. The mean annual reduction of asthma mortality rates among children was 0.022 (p < 0.0001). The reduction was 0.076, 0.005 and 0.004 for the 1- to 4-, 5- to 9- and 10- to 19-year-old age groups (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Asthma mortality among Brazilian children is low and has kept a downward trend during the study in all pediatric age groups.