2018, Number 1
Mortality among adolescents
León RS, Cruz SF, Lainé GD
Language: Spanish
References: 0
Page: 4-14
PDF size: 100.12 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the so-called "health paradox" of adolescence occurs when the stage of top physical health coincides with a period of high risks and elevated mortality rates.Objective: analyze the behavior and causes of mortality in hospitalized adolescents.
Methods: a retrospective longitudinal descriptive study was conducted at Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric University Hospital during the five-year period 2009-2013. The study universe was composed of 95 deceased adolescents of both sexes aged 10- 18. The sources of information were the hospital movement records, medical records and Pathological Anatomy reports of the deceased. The variables considered were total discharges, age, sex, origin, cause of death and year of occurrence.
Results: mortality rate for the period was below 1/100 discharges, with a predominance of deaths in the 15-18 years age group (51.6 %), male sex (59.0 %) and place of origin Havana (51.6 %). Malignant diseases and tumors caused almost half the deaths, followed by unintentional injuries (25.3 %).
Conclusions: in the period 2009-2013 mortality among adolescents behaved in keeping with the characteristics of the hospital as Reference Center for Children with Cancer and Polytrauma, and the main causes of death were related to those conditions.