Influenza-like illnesses in the Peruvian health system

Prudencio León W.E.; Changano Rodríguez M.V. · Horizonte Medico (2024) · DOI: 10.24265/horizmed.2024.v24n3.04

Resumen

Objective: To determine the behavior and healthcare trends of influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) in the Peruvian health system from 2018 to 2022. Materials and methods: An observational, descriptive, retrospective study which analyzed the behavior of healthcare visits for ILIs in Peru, using the open database of the Superintendencia Nacional de Salud (SUSALUD - National Superintendency of Health). The variables included diagnoses compatible with ILIs according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10), age groups, sex, location and time of care. The statistical analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel 365 and Stata 18. Results: Between 2018 and 2022, ILIs generated an average of 2,576,325 outpatient visits per year (range: 1,790,821–3,710,299), which accounted for 4.9 % of all outpatient visits in the Peruvian health system. Fifty percent of outpatient visits for ILIs occurred at the Ministry of Health (MINSA) services; in contrast, 51 % of emergency visits for ILIs occurred at the Seguro Social de Salud (EsSalud - Social Security Health Insurance) services. Emergency services recorded 1,077,584 visits annually (range: 312,306–1,644,758), coded according to ICD-10, which accounted for 15 % of all causes treated in these services. Meanwhile, hospitalization services reported 56,587 hospitalizations per year (range: 46,338–67,233), representing 2.9 % of all hospitalizations in the Peruvian health system, where 60.6 % of ILI-related hospitalizations were in MINSA’s services. Conclusions: In the Peruvian health system, ILIs pose a recurrent healthcare problem each year, with the health services of MINSA and EsSalud being the most in demand.

Instituciones: Universidad Peruana Unión