Admissions due to pneumonia and biomass burning: A spatial approach [Internações por pneumonias e queimadas: Uma abordagem espacial]

Objective: to identify spatial patterns in rates of admission for pneumonia among children and relate them to the number of fires reported in the state of mato grosso,brazil. methods: we conducted an ecological and exploratory study of data from the state of mato grosso for 2008 and 2009 on hospital admissions of children aged 0 to 4 years due to pneumonia and on fires in the same period. admission rates were calculated and choropleth maps were plotted for rates and for fire outbreaks,moran's i was calculated and the kernel estimator used to identify hotspots. data were analyzed using terraview 3.3.1. results: fifteen thousand six hundred eighty-nine children were hospitalized (range zero to 2,315),and there were 161,785 fires (range 7 to 6,454). the average rate of admissions per 1,000 inhabitants was 2.89 (standard deviation [sd] = 5.18) and the number of fires per 1,000 inhabitants was 152.81 (sd = 199.91). moran's i for the overall number of admissions was i = 0.02 (p = 0.26),the index for rate of admission was i = 0.02 (p = 0.21) and the index for the number of fires was i = 0.31 (p < 0.01). it proved possible to identify four municipalities with elevated rates of admissions for pneumonia. it was also possible to identify two regions with high admission densities. a clustering of fires was evident along what is known as the arc of deforestation. conclusions: this study identified municipalities in the state of mato grosso that require interventions to reduce rates of admission due to pneumonia and the number fires. copyright © by sociedade brasileira de pediatria.