Background
Bronchiolitis is the most common cause of hospitalization in pediatric patients worldwide (1). Approximately a quarter of patients develop severe bronchiolitis (2, 3). The high medical cost associates with severe bronchiolitis impose a relevant economic burden, especially in middle-income countries (4, 5). Middle-income countries are home to 75% of the world’s population, and approximately 96% of severe cases occur in these countries (1, 6).
Although the seasonality, risk factors, and clinical presentation of bronchiolitis in Colombia, a middle-income country, have been well characterized; the burden of disease generated by this disease in infants is unknown. The Global Burden of Disease study quantified the health effects of morbidity and mortality attributable to more than 100 diseases around the world. In this study, a new more-complex metric was used to estimate incidence, prevalence, and mortality, to characterize the real burden of disease by measuring both years of life lost as well as premature death and disability (7). The burden of disease of acute lower respiratory infections has been reported in the global and local burden of disease studies, but these reports do not differentiate between different types of lower respiratory infections. A valid and consistent description of the burden of disease is necessary to generate better health-policies and planning processes. This study aimed to estimate the DALYs of BA in infants less than 2 years in Colombia.