Objective

To know the prevalence of acute respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age at a maternal-child health center in Lima.

Materials and methods

This descriptive, observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study was conducted using 4,050 medical records from a maternal-child health center in Lima between January and September 2018. Inclusion criteria included legible and comprehensive medical records. Descriptive statistics was used.

Results

The prevalence of acute respiratory infections was 30.47 %. Sex-adjusted prevalence was 31.8 % in males and 29.2 % in females. Age-adjusted prevalence was 29.5 % in children under 1 year old, 29.2 % in 2-year-old children, 35.3 % in 3-year-old children, 30.7 % in 4-year-old children and 28.0 % in 5-year-old children. The highest prevalence was found in April (59.4 %), followed by March (46.8 %), May (42.0 %) and August (the month with fewer cases).

Conclusions

The prevalence of acute respiratory infections at a maternal-child health center in Lima was 30.47 %. The highest prevalence was observed in 3-year-old children and in April.

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