Table 3.
Characteristics of children/adolescents (< 18 years-old) hospitalized due to suspected hepatitis with unknown etiology from January/2019 to February/2022 in the Brazilian Public Health System.
| Overall (n = 1535) |
2019 (n = 629) |
2020 (n = 404) |
2021 (n = 443) |
2022 (n = 59) |
p-value† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male sex at birtha | 740 (48.2) | 291 (46.3) | 199 (49.3) | 224 (50.6) | 26 (44.1) | 0.472 |
| Age, yearsb | 8.27 (5.91) | 8.72 (5.71) | 8.02 (6.01) | 7.89 (6.03) | 8.12 (6.34) | 0.096 |
| Age categoriesa | 0.084 | |||||
| < 6 years-old | 639 (41.6) | 233 (37) | 179 (44.3) | 201 (45.4) | 26 (44.1) | |
| 6–11 years-old | 401 (26.2) | 187 (29.7) | 97 (24) | 103 (23.3) | 14 (23.7) | |
| 12–17 years-old | 495 (32.2) | 209 (33.2) | 128 (31.7) | 139 (31.4) | 19 (32.2) | |
| Skin-colora | 0.838 | |||||
| White | 381 (24.8) | 155 (24.6) | 99 (24.5) | 112 (25.3) | 15 (25.4) | |
| Black | 56 (3.6) | 25 (4) | 15 (3.7) | 14 (3.2) | 2 (3.4) | |
| Mixed (“Pardo”) | 644 (42.0) | 247 (39.3) | 178 (44.1) | 193 (43.6) | 26 (44.1) | |
| Yellow/Asian | 22 (1.4) | 11 (1.7) | 7 (1.7) | 4 (0.9) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Indigenous | 9 (0.6) | 2 (0.3) | 4 (1.0) | 3 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Not reported | 423 (27.6) | 189 (30) | 101 (25) | 117 (26.4) | 16 (27.1) | |
| Macro-regiona | 0.284 | |||||
| North | 292 (19.0) | 122 (19.4) | 86 (21.3) | 76 (17.2) | 8 (13.6) | |
| Northeast | 385 (25.1) | 172 (27.3) | 91 (22.5) | 105 (23.7) | 17 (28.8) | |
| Southeast | 494 (32.2) | 186 (29.6) | 133 (32.9) | 154 (34.8) | 21 (35.6) | |
| South | 235 (15.3) | 91 (14.5) | 69 (17.1) | 65 (14.7) | 10 (16.9) | |
| Center-west | 129 (8.4) | 58 (9.2) | 25 (6.2) | 43 (9.7) | 3 (5.1) | |
| ICD-10a | 0.202 | |||||
| B19 | 21 (1.4) | 8 (1.3) | 7 (1.7) | 6 (1.4) | 0 (0.0) | |
| B19.0 | 16 (1.0) | 7 (1.1) | 6 (1.5) | 3 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | |
| B19.9 | 612 (39.9) | 287 (45.6) | 148 (36.6) | 152 (34.3) | 25 (42.4) | |
| K72.0 | 223 (14.5) | 86 (13.7) | 61 (15.1) | 70 (15.8) | 6 (10.2) | |
| K72.9 | 457 (29.8) | 163 (25.9) | 124 (30.7) | 153 (34.5) | 17 (28.8) | |
| K75 | 3 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | |
| K75.9 | 202 (13.2) | 77 (12.2) | 57 (14.1) | 57 (12.9) | 11 (18.6) | |
| R93.2 | 1 (0.1) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Outcomes | ||||||
| Length of hospitalization, daysb | 7.84 (8.36) | 7.69 (7.85) | 8.54 (9.87) | 7.47 (7.76) | 7.47 (6.27) | 0.253 |
| Liver transplantationa | 131 (8.5) | 49 (7.8) | 25 (6.2) | 52 (11.8) | 5 (8.5) | 0.710 |
| Deatha | 107 (7.0) | 37 (5.9) | 38 (9.4) | 27 (6.1) | 5 (8.5) | 0.134 |
Data expressed as either number (%) or mean (SD); †p-values obtained either by F-tests (numerical continuous variables) or by chi-square tests (nominal categorical variables). B19=Unspecified viral hepatitis; B19.0=Unspecified viral hepatitis with hepatic coma; B19.9=Unspecified viral hepatitis without hepatic coma; K72=Hepatic failure, not elsewhere classified; K72.9=Hepatic failure, unspecified; K75=Other inflammatory liver diseases; K75.9=Inflammatory liver disease, unspecified; R93.2=Abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging of liver and biliary tract.