Acute viral bronchiolitis in Brazil: characteristics of length of stay and hospital costs

The objective of the study was to evaluate the length of stay in pediatric hospitalizations for acute viral bronchiolitis in the Brazilian Health System (SUS) and the costs of hospitalizations. This was a quantitative, observational, and ecological study, based on a retrospective and longitudinal analysis of data from the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System (DATASUS; 2012-2021) using descriptive statistics and Tukeys' paired test. Regarding the mean value of AIH/HAA Hospital Admission Authorization, among the regions, the high costs of hospitalizations are located more frequent in the Southeast region and the lowest proportion is directed to the corresponds to the North region. In the length of hospital stay among the regions, the shortest mean stay was identified in the Central West region (2.5 days) and the greatest stay in the Northeast region (3.1 days). Considering the age group of one year of life, its representativeness was 57% when compared to the age group of 1-4 years (43%). The fragility of the implementation of primary public policies in the prevention of bronchiolitis contributes to high hospital costs and significant economic impacts on the national healthcare system.