Acute diarrhoeal disease morbidity and mortality in children under 10 years old in the Brazilian Federal District, 2003 to 2012

OBJECTIVE: to describe diarrhoeal disease morbidity, mortality and seasonality in children aged under 10 resident in Brazil's Federal District, 2003-2012. METHODS: this was a descriptive study using National Hospital Information System (SIH/SUS), Mortality Information System (SIM), Acute Diarrhoeal Disease Epidemiological Surveillance System (Sivep-DDA) as well as diarrhoea monitoring spreadsheets. RESULTS: 558,737 diarrhoea cases were registered with the highest incidence among children with less than one year old (32.3 cases/100 children in 2003); during the period there was a reduction in the hospitalization rates (from 6.5 to 3.0 hospitalizations/1,000 children), mortality rates (from 4.5 to 1.5 deaths/100,000 children) and hospital lethality (from 0.70 to 0.49/100 children), with a sharper decline after the implementation of rotavirus vaccine in 2006; highest hospitalization rates occurred between July and September. CONCLUSION: morbidity and mortality from diarrhoea reduced, particularly in children under one year old. Hospitalizations were more frequent during in the dry season.