Covid-19 pandemic impacts on follow-up of child growth and development

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the use of primary health care services to follow-up the child growth and development in Brazil. METHOD: A total of 7.9 million consultations of children (0–2 years old) across Brazil between March 2017 and May 2020 were studied. Differences between medians were analyzed using non-parametric tests, the Global Moran Index (I(GM)) and the Local Indicators of Spatial Association. RESULTS: During the initial period of the pandemic, the median number of consultations was significantly lower than the same period in previous years, reducing more than 50%. The drop in 2020, compared to 2019, ranged from 49% to 62.2% across all regions of the country, except the South. The percentage reduction registered in 2019–2020 showed significant spatial autocorrelation (I(GM) = 0.20; p = 0.04), with the presence of low-low (states with reduction between 29% and 51%) and high-high (states with reduction between 55% and 69%) spatial clusters. CONCLUSION: The covid-19 pandemic impacted the follow-up of child growth and development in primary health care services in Brazil, with a geographically uneven reduction.